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In the rear of the planes, filled with high-powered computers and other sensors, intelligence specialists, many of whom speak Arabic or Farsi, monitor the airwaves, intercepting conversations from military communications links or other networks. Much of this information is passed to the National Security Agency for analysis.
At the front of the plane, which has a 32-member crew, electronic warfare specialists sit at a separate bank of computers, gathering up radar signals of all kinds, including Iraqi air defenses. Rivet Joints have the ability to scan automatically across an array of communications frequencies, allowing an operator to home in on individual frequencies and pass that information on to the Awacs radar or J-Stars ground-surveillance planes, which have better ability to pinpoint the locations of the transmissions.
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The Compass Call is a modified C-130 cargo plane, also filled with high-powered computers and sensors. Usually flying at above 20,000 feet and, ideally, about 80 to 100 miles from the target to be jammed, the Compass Calls are directed to their targets by the Rivet Joints, other aircraft or targets identified in their pre-mission planning. The 13-member crews include linguists, cryptologists, other analysts and the flight personnel.
Metal antenna cables hang down from the plane's tail in a distinctive pattern that looks like a metal trapeze or cheese-cutter. Electronic signals are collected from sensors in the blunt nose of the airplane; antennae in the rear of the aircraft blast electrons that jam enemy radar and other communications.
Flying perpendicular to the target to maximize the jamming, on-board specialists lock on to the frequencies to be disrupted. The plane can jam multiple targets at once. When it comes time to carry out a mission, a flight officer pushes a little red button on a computer keyboard, "JAM," and up to 800 watts of power is zapped at the target. If the target switches frequency, the Compass Call operators are ready to jam that in a constant cat-and-mouse game.
In a war against Iraq, military commanders say, new technology will probably allow those electronic combat planes to plant false targets in Iraqi radars and spoof the air defense systems.
In an interview, Gen. John P. Jumper, the Air Force chief of staff, declined to discuss the highly classified technical advances, except to say, "We're approaching the point where we can tell the SA-10 radar it is a Maytag washer and not a radar, and put it in the rinse cycle instead of the firing cycle."
