Italy has ordered two EA-37B electronic warfare (EW) aircraft from L3Harris Technologies, based on the Gulfstream G550 business jet. The contract is valued at $300 million.
Thanks to this acquisition, the Italian Air Force will gain the capability to disrupt and even jam enemy communications, radar systems, and navigation infrastructure. In today's context, this also includes countering drones.
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Once delivered, the EA-37B aircraft will complement Italy's existing fleet of Gulfstream G550 AEW/CAEW surveillance planes, which were ordered back in 2020. Altogether, this will significantly enhance Italy's long-range strategic EW and reconnaissance capabilities using a unified airframe.
This kind of strategic capability in the field of electronic warfare and reconnaissance is critical. For comparison, Ukraine is set to receive light Shark 600 aircraft to help counter Iranian-made Shahed drones in a similar role, though on a much smaller scale.
There are a few particularly interesting aspects about Italy's decision. First is the fact that the Gulfstream G550 has already been discontinued. That means these new EA-37Bs will have to be built using pre-owned airframes acquired from the secondary market.
However, it's worth noting that over 600 Gulfstream G550s were produced over roughly 18 years, so sourcing the platform is not expected to be a problem. In fact, this may even help reduce the overall cost of the program.
The second point of interest is the price — $300 million for two aircraft. That works out to about $150 million per EA-37B, which can be seen as a rough benchmark for the cost of modern electronic warfare aircraft.
It's important to note that using widely available commercial platforms helps keep costs lower compared to building a system entirely from scratch on a new airframe. That's exactly why modern AEW&C and EW aircraft are increasingly being built on business jet platforms.
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