AMI's latest JEDI

Besides serials MM62221/46-85 and MM62224/46-89, a third Aeronautica Militare (ItAF, Italian Air Force) YEC-27J JEDI is in the sky.

The YEC-27J JEDI (Jamming and Electronic Defense Instrumentation) is the Electronic Warfare variant of the regular Alenia (now Leonardo) C-27J Spartan transport aircraft.

The JEDI was announced in 2010, with its first flight on 25 April 2014. The JEDIs are converted standard C-27Js and hardly look different compared to their transport brothers. The most obvious difference on the JEDI is a number of antennas under the forward fuselage and a few underneath the tail section.

The third YEC-27J JEDI, temporary registration CSX62225/46-90 and construction number 4136, was already noted during a test flight from Turin-Caselle (TO) on 24 November 2021.

The YEC-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. Special developped "roll-on/roll-off" equipment mounted on standard NATO pallets allows the aircraft to be quickly reconfigured for JEDI or transport missions, but that is seldom executed.

Scramble Magazine likes to know how many JEDIs the Aeronautica Militare has planned for. If you have more information, please let us know at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Photo by Luca Xavier Bozzo (via jetphotos.com)