An electromechanical actuator 10 comprises: a housing 12 having an opening passing therethrough that is centered about an axis 32; a brushless servo motor 22 having a rotor assembly 30 mounted inside said housing for rotation about said axis, said servo motor and a stator 24 encircling the rotor assembly, said servo motor containing a permanent magnet and said stator containing the windings of the servo motor; a tapered circular wedge 25 tightly wedged between the stator and the inner wall of the housing to stationarily support the stator within the housing; a ball screw shaft 65 aligned along the axis and having a tapered end 68 that is tightly secured within a complementary tapered hole in said rotor assembly so that said shaft extends outwardly beyond one end of the rotor assembly, a ball screw nut 66 mounted upon the extended end of said shaft so that said nut moves axially along the shaft as the shaft is rotated by said servo motor; a pushbar unit 75 slidably contained within an end wall of said housing, said pushbar unit being connected to said ball screw nut for movement along said axis; and control means 35 connected to said servo motor for activating the servo motor to advance or retract the push bar unit a desired linear distance.