L3Harris Technologies has been awarded a $300 million contract to deliver two Gulfstream G550-based electronic warfare aircraft to the Italian Air Force, marking the first foreign sale of the EA-37B platform approved by the U.S. government.
The twinjet aircraft will be provisioned with an advanced electromagnetic attack capability developed in partnership with BAE Systems. Once delivered, they will provide Italy with long-range jamming options designed to disrupt enemy radar, navigation and communications systems, expanding the country’s airborne electronic warfare capacity.
According to L3Harris, the modified G550s will offer the range, altitude and endurance required for sustained airborne jamming operations at standoff distances. “We are expanding our support of Italy’s armed forces by equipping them with modern mission technology ready for managing a dynamic global landscape,” said Jason Lambert, President of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance at L3Harris.
“Our team will provide Italy with solutions to augment its national security and increase its interoperability with the U.S. and strategic allies.”
The two aircraft will join Italy’s fleet of special mission aircraft alongside the Joint Airborne Multi-Mission Multi-Sensor System (JAMMS), under which L3Harris is also modifying two Gulfstream G550s for ISR roles. JAMMS forms part of a broader effort to expand Italy’s multi-domain intelligence and reconnaissance capabilities.
L3Harris described the new aircraft as part of a growing portfolio of missionised platforms hosted on commercial airframes, supporting allied military operations worldwide. The company’s missionised aircraft are currently in service with the U.S., Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea and others.
With over 70 years of aircraft integration experience, L3Harris says it has delivered over 15,000 modified aircraft across more than 125 platform types, including 103 business jet conversions. The firm’s mission systems are designed to meet a range of ISR, SIGINT and electronic warfare requirements tailored to national and allied defence objectives.
The Italian G550s will be the first non-U.S. platforms to field the EA-37B system.
If anyone ever wonders what Italy spends its money on, pretty well top of the list is its Airforce and their navy and they don’t skimp on EW for either. They don’t have much in the way of Airborne Heavy lift Transport (no overseas bases or territory), but everything else is box ticked. Unless there is something new in the DIP then they have more air combat power than we do., same for Frigates and Amphibious Lift.
We may be the only Tier 1 partner in the F35 programme, but Italy had 90 F35A / B’s on order and topped it up with another 25 last year. They also have Europes only F35 assembly line, some EU countries are specifying that their orders are fulfilled in Italy so they count as EU builds.
😢 Where has it all gone wrong.
the decisions they make sees a lot more cohesive than ours. hence the Italian fleet is growing as fast as ours is shrinking.
it is true that Italy have made some good calls for its forces. They were one of the few navies that was actually usefull in the Red Sea, while others were stepping on their own feet