Electronic Warfare Technology Scientific Discipline Heading-Up The Battlefield

By J.R. Wilson

For thousands of years, combat was a relatively unproblematic operation; warriors were on foot, inwards chariots, on horses, in addition to inwards ships clashing inwards unopen in addition to bloody conflict alongside swords, spears, in addition to arrows. The tools of state of war began evolving to a greater extent than speedily inwards the 19th Century, in addition to thus the 20th Century saw to a greater extent than advances inwards weaponry in addition to concepts of functioning (CONOPs) than the previous 10,000 years of warfare combined.

The closing decades of the concluding century also saw the ascent of electronics in addition to their evolution into the pump of armed forces capabilities at all levels, inwards all domains, in addition to across all services worldwide.


Evolving alongside those capabilities were 2 novel realms of state of war cyber warfare (CW) in addition to electronic warfare (EW), which began to screen older, legacy efforts such equally signals word (SIGINT), human word (HUMINT), imagery word (IMINT), standard in addition to signatures word (MASINT), electronic word (ELINT), satellite word (SATINT), communications word (COMINT) in addition to opened upwards rootage word (OSINT).

Cyber warfare officially became a domain of state of war for the U.S. alongside the 2009 creation of U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM) and, inwards May 2018 its elevation to a total in addition to independent unified combatant command, comprising the Army Cyber Command, Fleet Cyber Command/Tenth Fleet, Air Forces Cyber/24th Air Force, in addition to Marine Corps Cyberspace Command.

Meanwhile, EW, broadly defined equally whatsoever activeness involving the offensive or defensive job of the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS), also was growing inwards prominence across the armed forces. NATO, however, adopted a to a greater extent than comprehensive approach to EW, recognizing it equally an operational maneuver infinite in addition to warfighting domain similar to the alliance’s maritime, land, air, in addition to infinite domains.

“We alive inwards the electromagnetic spectrum, from prison theatre cellular telephone phones to radars,” says Andrew Dunn, vice president of the international electronic warfare systems describe of piece of work concern evolution at the Harris Corp. Electronic Systems segment inwards Clifton, N.J.”

The Army is trying to acquire the concept of European Monetary System to locomote some other maneuver space. If I’m unable to transfer information to anybody, from warfighters to aircraft, that’s a problem,” Dunn says. “Control of the European Monetary System is vital to survival on the futurity battlefield. And if somebody disrupts that maneuver space, chaos volition ensue. You cannot bear whatsoever operations unless you lot take away hold the mightiness to maneuver inwards the EMS.

Dominating the electromagnetic spectrum, however, is easier said than done. “There is capability now, but at that spot is no dot inwards fourth dimension where nosotros tin say nosotros ain the spectrum because the bad guys volition locomote along to come upwards up alongside counters,” Dunn continues. “The U.S. Army is taking this rattling seriously directly in addition to the Air Force in addition to Navy take away hold ongoing efforts to ensure nosotros take away hold liberty of displace inwards the electromagnetic domain. OSD [U.S. business office of the secretarial assistant of defense] is trying to grapple how to solve each service’s problems, looking at their dissimilar missions in addition to threats. The marrow technologies – diverse levels of AI, for instance – volition locomote mutual across the services, but each volition take away hold dissimilar threat spaces.”

A prime number instance of mobile EW at the tactical border is the Boeing/U.S. Navy EA-18G Growler electronic warfare combat aircraft, the only advanced airborne electronic laid on (AEA) platform inwards production today. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 variant of the combat-proven F/A-18F Super Hornet, the Growler provides tactical jamming in addition to electronic protection to U.S. in addition to allied armed forces forces. The Navy has committed to continuing investments inwards advanced Growler capabilities to farther protect all strike aircraft during high-threat missions for decades to come.

A replacement for the Navy’s EA-6B Prowler, the Growler also is beingness acquired past times the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) nether a U.S. Foreign Military Sales agreement. Those 12 aircraft brand Commonwealth of Australia the start reason to locomote offered this score of AEA applied scientific discipline past times the United States, greatly enhancing electronic awareness in addition to laid on capabilities for the RAAF in addition to its allies inwards the South Pacific/Southeast Asia region.

Proponents say the Growler brings fighter aircraft speed in addition to maneuverability, in addition to the mightiness to defend itself against air-to-air attack, to an electronic laid on aircraft, enhancing the provision of critical intelligence, surveillance, in addition to reconnaissance (ISR) information to other U.S. in addition to articulation forcefulness aircraft.

The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff take away hold defined EW equally a capability – applied from air, land, ocean in addition to infinite manned in addition to unmanned systems – supporting armed forces operations involving detection, denial, deception, disruption, degradation, destruction, in addition to protection. Those are accomplished using electro-optical (E/O), infrared (IR), in addition to radio frequency (RF) countermeasures; EM compatibility in addition to deception; communications jamming, radar jamming in addition to anti-jamming; electronic masking, probing, reconnaissance in addition to intelligence; electronics security; EW reprogramming; emission control; spectrum management in addition to wartime reserve modes.

The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division at Point Mugu, Calif., supports Fleet EW from concept evolution to year-round EW Intelligence operational support. The organization has developed a distributed, adaptable network capability called the Electronic Warfare Services Architecture (EWSA) to integrate several EW technologies on manned in addition to unmanned aircraft. When fully implemented, EWSA volition enable horizontal integration of multiple payloads across the services in addition to air, land, sea, infinite in addition to cyber domains for enhanced EW operational situational awareness to all levels of command.

NOT Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 REPLACEMENT

EW is non a replacement for kinetic weapons, but when the scheme offers an border over enemy defenses, it tin trim the number of bombs in addition to mortars required to suppress those capabilities.

“A lot of integrated air defence forcefulness systems are networked; if you lot tin disrupt those, you lot tin brand the radar scheme inoperable without firing a shot. So you lot don’t laid on the radar itself, but the infrastructure unopen to the radar,” explains Harris’s Dunn.

“It all gets dorsum to EM dominance. The start thing you lot wish to create is disable the mightiness of someone to react. You create that past times confusing them, disrupting their communications, using deceptive means, all through either a cyber laid on or an laid on on the EMS.”


The Harris Disruptor SRx is an instance of small-scale size, weight, in addition to mightiness consumption (SWaP) inwards modern mobile electronic warfare systems. It offers adaptive, reprogrammable multifunctional capability for a changing EW environment.

At a Jan 2018 Army Cyber Quest exercise, Raytheon demonstrated its novel Cyber in addition to Electromagnetic Battle Management (CEMBM) system, designed to assist navigate the electromagnetic battlefield past times bringing electronic warfare, cyber in addition to the European Monetary System together inwards i tool to plan, coordinate in addition to grapple EW in addition to tactical cyber activities.

“This isn’t nearly someone sitting at a desk in addition to hacking into a system,” says Travis Slocumb, vice president of Raytheon Electronic Warfare Systems. “It’s nearly the mightiness to plan, defensively or offensively, spell maneuvering through a battlespace undetected.

“The route ahead is total integration, a convergence of cyber in addition to electronic warfare. Tools such equally CEMBM volition protect our forces from adversaries that are speedily advancing their mightiness to take away hold over in addition to interfere alongside the spectrum.”

MARINE CORPS EW

While silent relying on the Army to furnish the mass of query in addition to acquisition for electrical current in addition to futurity EW systems, the Marine Corps is adapting the capabilities to gibe their small-unit expeditionary operations. That includes adding an in addition to electronic warfare in addition to unmanned aerial vehicle (EW/UAV) specialist to its 13-person rifle squad — the anchor of Corps basis combat capability.

That modify grew out of a growing U.S. Department of Defense concern nearly a “hybrid warfare” strategy inwards which the enemy attacks across multiple domains – land, sea, air, infinite in addition to cyber. It’s a concept Russian Federation demonstrated alongside devastating trial inwards its 2014 laid on on, in addition to annexation of, Crimea past times using a mix of cyber attacks, disinformation, propaganda, in addition to conventional warfare to overwhelm its opponent quickly.

In a handbook on the novel structures in addition to capabilities of the Russian military, the Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Group notes Russian Federation has invested important coin in addition to endeavour on EW capabilities, peculiarly those designed to unopen downwardly FM, SATCOM, cellular, GPS, in addition to other signals the armed forces in addition to civilian worlds both rely on.

The AN/ALQ-214 Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures (IDECM) scheme is the next-generation integrated countermeasures scheme carried past times the U.S. Navy in addition to Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18 jet fighter-bomber. It blends sensitive receivers in addition to active countermeasures to shape an electronic shield.

“In Eastern Ukraine, these EW systems take away hold proved devastating to Ukrainian radio communications, are capable of jamming unmanned aircraft systems, in addition to tin broadcast imitation GPS signals,” the handbook noted. In addition, many are able to spot in addition to locate enemy signals during jamming, which tin locomote paired alongside artillery to laid on high priority targets.

“Certain platforms are used for protection, emitting a signal designed to overload electronic fuses on incoming fires. Guided munitions, both direct in addition to indirect, volition either detonate early on or modify course of study i time they come upwards inwards contact alongside i of these bubbles,” the written report says. “Cyber attacks tin effectively shape the battlefield in addition to require rattling piffling gamble on the component division of the perpetrator. Since U.S. formations operate nether self-imposed restrictions similar ethical hacking in addition to prioritizing protective measures over offensives inwards the cyber realm, they are express inwards their capabilities compared to Russian counterparts.”

ACCESSIBLE TECHNOLOGY

But diverse levels of EW in addition to CW are non express to peer in addition to near-peer opponents; alongside easily acquired technologies in addition to Internet manuals, they also are beingness used past times small-scale nation-states alongside express conventional armed forces capability, equally good equally non-state threats such equally ISIS.

To bargain alongside this evolving novel threat, inwards March 2018 Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller ordered the creation of a Marine cyberspace land in addition to the recruitment of an additional 1,100 active-duty Marines to perform novel jobs involving cyber weapons in addition to offensive in addition to defensive CW/EW operations. Many of the novel Marines are alongside the novel Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group (MIG).

A planning document for the silent developing MIG indicates it volition furnish Marines alongside the mightiness to bear hybrid electronic in addition to cyber warfare tasks, including spreading misinformation, providing electronic battlefield awareness, in addition to attacking enemy networks.

As CW in addition to EW take away hold grown inwards importance, areas where they overlap take away hold increased, leading some to propose merging them into a unmarried operational capability. For the U.S. military, that endeavour is beingness led past times the Army.


Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions offers a pre-integrated rugged embedded estimator to assist speed evolution of deployed software-defined radio (SDR) in addition to electronic warfare (EW) applications.

“EW in addition to Cyber tin enable each other in addition to the mutual slice tying them together is spectrum,” says Army Col. Marty Hagenston, projection manager for EW in addition to Cyber inwards the Army’s Program Executive Office of Intelligence, Electronic Warfare, in addition to Sensors.

Electronic warfare essentially has several components, Hagenston says: software-defined radios (SDR); antennas in addition to apertures; techniques; in addition to command in addition to control. “SDR, which are the brains in addition to mightiness amplifiers; antennas in addition to apertures, both directional, management finding in addition to receiving; techniques, where the state-of-the-art inwards EW are the refined exquisite techniques, in addition to command in addition to command battle management, the mightiness to visualize the spectrum. In all of this, it becomes an integration effort, non only within the technologies, but within side past times side systems.”

EW INTEGRATION

During a cyber safety panel give-and-take hosted inwards Jan 2018 past times the Association of the US Army’s Institute of Land Warfare, some of the Army’s top EW in addition to CW officers discussed how they are approaching the integration of CW, EW, SIGINT, in addition to other armed forces word operations. It centers on the integration of Army cyber, EW, SIGINT, in addition to armed forces word operations to tackle growing cyber threats from unopen to the globe.

Maj. Gen. John B. Morrison Jr., commanding full general of the Army’s Cyber Center of Excellence at Fort Gordon, Ga., told the conference all of those elements demand to locomote brought together to deliver the desired results effectively. To that end, EW professionals are moving into the Army’s cyber branch — a displace that could locomote completed past times October.

“The reality is that we’re already moving inwards that management directly in addition to take away hold begun doing mobile preparation teams for our EW professionals,” he added. “The service is planning to prioritize flexibility. It was an unnatural human activeness for the Army to sit down at that spot in addition to meet 2 disparate centers of excellence convey together i integrated requirement, but I’m rattling pleased alongside how the Army reacted to it.”

Maj. Gen. Patricia A. Frost, managing director of cyber at the Army’s Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, told the conference the Army also is working rapidly to develop CW/EW technologies inwards unopen cooperation alongside manufacture in addition to academia.

“We’re non going to hold off the 6 to 10 years of edifice the perfect slice of kit. We’re going to expression at prototyping in addition to a gamble reduction in addition to gamble mitigation methodology,” she said.

The requirements going to those partners also volition locomote opened upwards to novel approaches, Morrison says: “What you’re going to meet within these documents are operationally based requirements. We are going to laid it inwards such a mode that nosotros tin create iterative development.”


The Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton long-range maritime patrol unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is getting inwards on the electronic warfare game alongside a scheduled advanced signals word bundle to enable the UAV to supercede the manned EP-3 SIGINT aircraft.

INTEGRATING EW AND CW

Cooperation in addition to collaboration inwards futurity EW in addition to CW capabilities past times the U.S. Army are beingness driven past times the actions of others, such equally Russian Federation in addition to China, who take away hold openly announced their intentions to locomote dominant inwards those areas equally speedily equally possible.

China, for example, of late established the Strategic Support Force (SSF) within the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to fighting in addition to win inwards the information infinite equally a unmarried entity to bear electronic, information in addition to cyber warfare. While few details take away hold emerged, it is expected that CW, EW, space, in addition to perhaps psychological operations forces volition merge into a unmarried information warfare service, tasked alongside network laid on in addition to defense, ISR, navigation, jamming, in addition to disruption of adversary command, control, communications, computers, surveillance, in addition to reconnaissance (C4ISR). Successful implementation also could improve the menses of information across the PLA in addition to locomote a driving forcefulness for query on advanced EW capabilities.

With EW in addition to CW becoming ubiquitous components of modern conflicts – in addition to peculiarly Russian in addition to Chinese efforts to seize the applied scientific discipline Pb – the U.S. is inwards a seat it has non experienced inwards decades – playing catch-up.

“In the ‘90s, the Army sort of gave upwards on EW, alongside an oculus on articulation systems that could furnish those,” Hagenston explains. “As the Army went through fifteen years of war, EW came upwards again, somewhat differently inwards the counter-terrorism fighting inwards Republic of Iraq in addition to Afghanistan, to a greater extent than oft than non inwards a defensive nature. The Army has turned the corner, directly facing near-peers. EW has taken on a whole novel pregnant for the Army equally it is integrated into tactical formations.

“As the Army is trying to figure it out through the requirements procedure in addition to query efforts, we’re genuinely delivering against operational problems from units that are forward-deployed against those near-peers,” Hagenston continues. “Those operational-needs statements assist us inform the SOTA [state of the art] in addition to programs of record. The Army has committed to making those investments in addition to deploying express capability to targeted units to acquire direct user feedback thus nosotros tin refine our programs in addition to acquire them out to the whole Army.”

The nature of the CW/EW human relationship remains i of struggle in addition to complexity, however.
CW AND EW RELATIONSHIP

“There is a constant conversation on what is Cyber EW or does it stand upwards alone,” says Harris’s Dunn. “Using cyber attack, EW provides the bullet using the RF spectrum, thus EW tin locomote used both defensively in addition to offensively to insert cyber attacks into threat networks. Where the lines are betwixt the 2 has non yet been settled.”

Luc Dondainas, describe of piece of work concern evolution manager for communications word in addition to counter-electronic back upwards measures for Rohde & Schwarz GmbH inwards Munich says he does non meet a merger of EW in addition to CW, despite growing levels of interaction.

“It’s to a greater extent than a thing of complementary rather than overlap — the physical surroundings that enables EW to acquire closer to cyberspace,” Dondainas says. “They are working closer, alongside to a greater extent than in addition to to a greater extent than coordination, but sometimes it is ameliorate to take away hold them separated. So far, I don’t meet them becoming combined,” he says, adding that also tin locomote component division of the disconnect betwixt what is wanted in addition to what is possible.

“The shortfalls inwards price of what the customers wish in addition to what manufacture tin furnish tin locomote a weird situation, Dondainas continues. “From a receiver or signal-processing point-of-view, it is conceivable to take away hold what the client wants, but from an integration perspective, it is non possible to gibe everything on a small-scale long-endurance platform. So it is an integration endeavour non only to take away hold the most modern system, but also to take away hold them integrated into the constraints of the sensor platform.”

As alongside nearly every aspect of armed forces weaponry in addition to capabilities, EW began equally large comparatively express fixed systems on large manned aircraft, ships, in addition to reason vehicles. The start 2 decades of the 21st century, however, saw increasing miniaturization, extended range, in addition to mobility, which has locomote a primary goal.

“For the Army, a mutual dismounted platform is beingness developed for soldiers to ship around. At the mobile level, our major constraint is those platforms already inwards the Army equally component division of the maneuver capability that EW supports,” The Army’s Hagenston says. “If you lot are inwards a Stryker-based formation, the EW scheme should locomote Stryker-based. So it depends on the formation – some heavy platform for a heavy brigade combat team, some manpacked stuff, in addition to lighter-weight vehicles that tin locomote air-landed or airdropped for a low-cal infantry formation.”

EW is all nearly the threats in addition to beingness i stair ahead of them, Harris’s Dunn adds.

STAYING AHEAD OF THE THREAT

“EW systems locomote along to evolve equally weapons systems evolve, in addition to nosotros demand to locomote ahead of those inwards price of situational awareness: where are the threats, what are their intentions, in addition to what create nosotros create to counter those threats,” Dunn says. “From the perspective of where technologies are going, EW is moving to where the basis is moving – software-defined (SD) technology.”

Software-defined applied scientific discipline “allows you lot to locomote reconfigurable,” Dunn says. “For example, if you’re doing an ISR mission alongside 10 disrupters collecting information in addition to displace into contested airspace, you lot currently take away hold iii options: locomote home, locomote along the mission in addition to promise you lot don’t acquire shot down, or telephone telephone for help. With a small-form-factor SD system, you lot tin reprogram i or 2 modules to create electronic attack, thus the scheme is directly protecting the platform spell inwards contested airspace. And you lot tin reprogram them dorsum to ISR when you lot leave of absence contested airspace.”

David C. Jedynak, primary applied scientific discipline officeholder at Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions inwards Ashburn, Va., says a lot of novel EW systems are beingness reduced to boards that are embedded alongside high-performance onboard computing, information fusion, in addition to greatly improving mobility.

“If you lot are able to create EW inwards smaller sizes than inwards the past, you lot tin add together that capability to platforms that couldn’t handgrip them before,” Jedynak says. “You also tin create high-end number crunching in addition to increment the performance of traditional platforms.”

Processing, he ways, is critical for mobile electronic warfare systems. Enabling technologies included general-purpose graphics processing (GPGPU) boards in addition to field-programmable gate array (FPGA) boards. “With an FPGA, you lot tin genuinely optimize the information path. If you lot are worried nearly jamming, you lot demand a depression latency charge per unit of measurement from the input to output, which FPGA is rattling practiced at.”

Jedynak says systems designers tin visualize electronic warfare inwards price of RF waveforms in addition to cyber warfare inwards price of bits that ride on waveforms. In this way, signals word could locomote component division of an offensive cyber attack. “If you lot also tin start inserting things into the signal, rather than but listening to it, attacking a scheme through its job of some waveform, is it EW or is it Cyber? You’re manipulating the waveforms, but you’re also doing things at the bits level.”

FUTURE OF MOBILE EW

The futurity evolution of mobile EW volition meet to a greater extent than advances inwards those areas, peculiarly miniaturization, giving EW capability a presence at all levels, throughout the battlespace.

“SDR in addition to its miniaturization are genuinely the enabling technologies that take away hold advanced EW, basis SIGINT, communications,” the Army’s Hagenston notes. “That’s in all probability the number-one technology. The other, which volition never locomote away, are antennas in addition to apertures to collect in addition to transmit things at dissimilar waveforms, which displace your SWaP [size, weight, in addition to mightiness consumption] to increment or decrease, depending on the waveform you’re trying to get. Techniques are hosted on the SDR in addition to it also tin locomote used for command in addition to control.”

Now regard adding advanced technologies similar machine learning in addition to artificial word (AI), he suggests. “The unmarried biggest thing is convergence, which comes alongside machine learning to handgrip all the data. With an EW system, equally capabilities locomote to a greater extent than in addition to to a greater extent than digitized, you lot start to expression at i element doing multiple functions. You’re heading to a greater extent than toward SDR-type concepts. From a SWaP standpoint, if you lot tin create multifunction from i scheme rather than using dissever systems, that tin locomote a large create goodness inwards price of acquisition cycles, platform integration, in addition to preparation costs. It may locomote much to a greater extent than complex, but it has a lot to a greater extent than capability.”

The ever-increasing amount of raw information gathered from diverse word capabilities is leading many to meet some score of artificial word equally integral to the long-term requirements of EW systems.

THE ROLE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

“For the following generation, integration of AI, neural networks, to offload the cognitive burden from the analyst/operator, volition locomote key. Cognitive EW is nirvana for EW,” Hagenston says.

“There is no doubtfulness AI volition play an of import role inwards mobile EW systems,” Dunn agrees. “It’s all nearly beingness able to react quicker, seat faster, in addition to suppress effectively. All the AI efforts in addition to algorithms are beingness driven to furnish those capabilities faster, from threat identification equally shortly equally possible to where is it in addition to where is it going.

“Being able to empathize intent faster is a needed capability, along alongside the fastest way to suppress it. Radar applied scientific discipline is moving equally speedily equally the EW side, using all those algorithms to ameliorate meet their threats. But you lot e'er wish your EW applied scientific discipline to remain ahead of that applied scientific discipline curve.”

Lothar Kisling, managing director of signals word in addition to electronic warfare at Rohde & Schwarz inwards Munich, is less impressed alongside the electrical current in addition to near-term potential of AI, however.

“The advanced algorithms in addition to AI nosotros take away hold looked at thus far are non genuinely suitable to bargain alongside the raw information generated past times many sensors,” Kisling says. “A lot of people recall AI is the go-to thing if you lot take away hold that much data, but it turns out it currently is ameliorate to take away hold a classic processing approach, in addition to thus apply AI to expression for patterns in addition to seat similarities or novel things coming up. Both are rattling helpful directly in addition to fifty-fifty to a greater extent than thus inwards the future, when they tin plough processed information into something that is readable past times the analysts. But I don’t meet AI beingness used direct afterward the analog-to-digital converter inwards the close future.”

As the U.S. plant to hold the applied scientific discipline Pb it has long enjoyed, the electrical current tendency – sure for the Army – is multifunction, beingness able to adjust to crime or defence forcefulness on the fly, alongside the assist of SDR technology.

“Active in addition to passive twenty-four hours of the month systems are component division of the multifunctional system,” Hagenston says. “Platform hit for the Army is e'er tactically relevant – rattling unopen for the infantry. Networking volition take away hold to locomote some form of protected communications thus you lot tin collect in addition to communicate inwards a denied environment. Onboard computing in addition to fusion, peculiarly inwards a saturated spectrum, volition locomote necessary to feel the surroundings in addition to pick needles out of needle stacks.” 
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