Aeronautica Militare EC-27J JEDI achieves 5,000 flight hours

At the beginning of February 2021, an Aeronautica Militare (AMI, Italian Air Force) Alenia EC-27J JEDI (Jamming and Electronic Defence Instrumentation) reached the 5,000 flight hours milestone in support of Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), the operation that fights terrorism (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS also designated as Daesh) and militias) over Iraq and Syria.

The two secretive AMI EC-27Js belong to the Task Group ‘Albatros’ of the AMI and the type began operating in the area on 10 August 2016, providing approximately 210 days of uninterrupted coverage of the the OIR theathre, with over 1,000 sorties flown against ISIS.

The JEDIs, serials MM62221/46-85 and MM62224/46-89, are the Electronic Warfare variant of the C-27J Spartan transport aircraft. The EC-27J was announced in 2010, with its first flight on 25 April 2014. Both JEDIs are converted C-27J ‘standard’ transports but hardly look different externally compared to their transport brothers. A few additional antennas, just underneath the tail section and fuselage are attached to the EC-27J.

The EC-27J was developed to conduct surveillance, protection and support missions in the electromagnetic spectrum. In detail, the JEDI is able to cover a wide range of missions such as the disruption of radio communications and, in particular, remote detonators commonly used on Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) and supporting Personnel Recovery operations. The EC-27J has developed a special "roll-on/roll-off" equipment mounted on standard NATO pallets that allow the aircraft to be quickly reconfigured for JEDI or transport missions, but that is seldom executed.

Photo: Luca Xavier Bozzo, kindly provided by JetPhotos.net