Direct proof of use
Official U.S. Air Force and DVIDS records document EC-130H Compass Call aircraft operating from Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan during the 2001 War in Afghanistan. A 2005 Air Force article described 41st Expeditionary Electronic Combat Squadron EC-130H aircraft flying combat sorties and supporting more than 1,500 ground-force air-support requests in Operation Enduring Freedom.
Later official records show continued EC-130H use during the post-2014 phase. AFCENT published 2014 maintenance imagery at Bagram that identified the 41st EECS as flying EC-130H aircraft for communications jamming in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, DVIDS reported 41st EECS Compass Call employment in the Combined Joint Operations Area-Afghanistan in 2015, and a 2017 DVIDS caption documented an EC-130H prepared for takeoff at Bagram in support of Operation Freedom's Sentinel.
Sources: Troops Look Up To Compass Call, AFCENT EC-130H Aircraft Maintenance, 41st EECS Scorpions Defend The Force, EC-130H Supports Operation Freedom's Sentinel
Bagram electronic attack mission
The EC-130H role in Afghanistan was airborne electronic attack rather than kinetic strike. Air Force reporting from Bagram described the aircraft as providing electronic protection for ground forces, while the 2015 DVIDS account said the 41st EECS used the Compass Call to limit adversary coordination against friendly forces in the Afghanistan joint operations area.
The supported side in the catalog is the United States, NATO, and Afghan government forces. The direct operator identified in the official records is the U.S. Air Force, especially 41st EECS crews and maintainers deployed from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base to Bagram Airfield.
Sources: Troops Look Up To Compass Call, 41st EECS Scorpions Defend The Force, AFCENT EC-130H Aircraft Maintenance
Operation Freedom's Sentinel phase
Operation Freedom's Sentinel began after the end of the NATO ISAF combat mission, and official EC-130H records continue into that phase. DVIDS documented U.S. airmen preparing an EC-130H Compass Call for takeoff at Bagram on November 20, 2017 and stated that the aircraft and aircrew used offensive counter-information and electronic-attack capabilities in support of Operation Freedom's Sentinel.
A 2018 AFCENT article from Bagram reported that two of the Air Force's fourteen EC-130H aircraft were assigned to Bagram and maintained there to support daily missions. Davis-Monthan's Compass Call fact sheet later summarized the 41st ECS, through the 41st EECS, as continuously deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Freedom's Sentinel since 2004, with more than 45,000 hours and 7,900 combat sorties in those operations.
Sources: EC-130H Supports Operation Freedom's Sentinel, AFCENT Not A Regular C-130, Davis-Monthan EC-130H Fact Sheet
Conflict role
The source-backed Afghanistan role is electronic warfare: jamming, disrupting, or otherwise limiting enemy communications and command-and-control coordination in support of friendly ground and special-operations forces. The sources support fielding, sortie generation, and operational use by U.S. Air Force crews; they do not indicate Taliban or allied militant operation of the aircraft.
The available official record is strongest for Bagram-based 41st EECS operations and maintenance from 2004 onward, with specific public milestones in 2005, 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2018. It does not provide a complete sortie-by-sortie account for the entire 2001-2021 war.
Sources: U.S. Air Force EC-130H Fact Sheet, Troops Look Up To Compass Call, Davis-Monthan EC-130H Fact Sheet
