Electronic warfare

For warfare on the Internet, seeCyberwarfare.For the Underground Resistance album, seeElectronic Warfare (album).

Electromagnetic warfareorelectronic warfare(EW) iswarfareinvolving the use of theelectromagnetic spectrum(EM spectrum) ordirected energyto control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy operations. The purpose of electromagnetic warfare is to deny the opponent the advantage of—and ensure friendly unimpeded access to—theEM spectrum.Electromagnetic warfare can be applied fromair,sea,land,orspaceby crewed and uncrewed systems, and can targetcommunication,radar,or other military and civilian assets.

United States Space Forcepersonnel operating asatellite antennaduring an electromagnetic warfaremilitary exercise

The electromagnetic environment

Military operations are executed in an information environment increasingly complicated by the electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum portion of the information environment is referred to as theelectromagnetic environment(EME). The recognized need for military forces to have unimpeded access to and use of the electromagnetic environment creates vulnerabilities and opportunities for electronic warfare in support of military operations.

Within the information operations construct, EW is an element of information warfare; more specifically, it is an element of offensive and defensive counterinformation.

NATOhas a different and arguablymore encompassing and comprehensive approach to EW.A military committee conceptual document from 2007,MCM_0142 Nov 2007 Military Committee Transformation Concept for Future NATO Electronic Warfare,recognised the EME as an operational maneuver space and warfighting environment/domain. In NATO, EW is considered to be warfare in the EME. NATO has adopted simplified language which parallels those used in other warfighting environments like maritime, land, and air/space. For example, an electronic attack (EA) is offensive use of EM energy, electronic defense (ED), and electronic surveillance (ES). The use of the traditional NATO EW terms, electronic countermeasures (ECM), electronic protective measures (EPM), and electronic support measures (ESM) has been retained as they contribute to and support electronic attack (EA), electronic defense (ED) and electronic surveillance (ES). Besides EW, other EM operations include intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR), and signals intelligence (SIGINT). Subsequently, NATO has issued EW policy and doctrine and is addressing the other NATO defense lines of development.

Primary EW activities have been developed over time to exploit the opportunities and vulnerabilities that are inherent in thephysicsofEM energy.Activities used in EW include electro-optical,infraredandradio frequencycountermeasures; EM compatibility and deception;radio jamming,radar jamming and deceptionandelectronic counter-countermeasures(or anti-jamming); electronic masking, probing, reconnaissance, and intelligence; electronic security; EW reprogramming; emission control; spectrum management; and wartime reserve modes.

Subdivisions

Electronic warfare consists of three major subdivisions: electronic attack (EA), electronic protection (EP), and electronic warfare support (ES).

Electronic attack

Krasukha,a Russian mobile, ground-based, electronic warfare (EW) system used to jamAWACSand airborne radars on radar-guided missiles.

Main article:Electronic countermeasure

Electronic attack (EA), also known aselectronic countermeasures(ECM), involves the offensive use of electromagnetic energy weapons, directed energy weapons, or anti-radiation weapons to attack personnel, facilities, or equipment with the intent of degrading, neutralizing, or destroying enemy combat capability including human life. In the case of electromagnetic energy, this action is most commonly referred to as "jamming" and can be performed on communications systems or radar systems. In the case of anti-radiation weapons, this often includes missiles or bombs that can home in on a specific signal (radio or radar) and follow that path directly to impact, thus destroying the system broadcasting.

In November 2021,Israel Aerospace Industriesannounced a new electronic warfare system namedScorpiusthat can disrupt radar and communications from ships,UAVs,and missiles simultaneously and at varying distances.

On 8 September 2024, Russian drones entered both Romanian and Latvian airspace. Romania scrambled two F-16s to monitor the drone's progress, it landed "in an uninhabited area" nearPeriprava,according to the Romanian Ministry of Defence. The drone that entered Latvian airspace from Belarus crashed nearRezekne.This comes as the ISW noted increased success in UkrainianElectronic Warfareagainst Russian drones that resulted in "several Russian Shahed drones (that) recently failed to reach their intended targets for unknown reasons." TwoKh-58salso reportedly failed to reach their targets.

Electronic protection

A right front view of aUSAFBoeing E-4advanced airborne command post (AABNCP) on the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) simulator (HAGII-C) for testing.

Main article:Electronic counter-countermeasure

Electronic protection (EP), also known as an electronic protective measure (EPM) or electronic counter-countermeasure (ECCM) are a measure used to protect against an electronic enemy attack (EA) or to protect against friendly forces who unintentionally deploy the equivalent of an electronic attack on friendly forces. (sometimes calledEW fratricide).The effectiveness of electronic protection (EP) level is the ability to counter an electronic attack (EA).

Flares are often used to distractinfrared homingmissiles into missing their target. The use of flare rejection logic in the guidance (seeker head) of an infrared homing missile to counter an adversary's use of flares is an example of EP. While defensive EA actions (jamming) and EP (defeating jamming) both protect personnel, facilities, capabilities, and equipment, EP protects from theeffectsof EA (friendly and/or adversary). Other examples of EP includespread spectrumtechnologies, the use of restricted frequency lists, emissions control (EMCON), and low observability (stealth) technology.

Electronic warfare self-protection (EWSP) is a suite of countermeasure systems fitted primarily to aircraft for the purpose of protecting the host from weapons fire and can include, among others: directional infrared countermeasures (DIRCM,flaresystems and other forms ofinfrared countermeasuresfor protection against infrared missiles;chaff(protection against radar-guided missiles); andDRFMdecoy systems (protection against radar-targeted anti-aircraft weapons).

An electronic warfare tactics range (EWTR) is a practice range that provides training for personnel operating in electronic warfare. There are two examples of such ranges inEurope:one atRAF Spadeadamin the northwest county ofCumbria,England, and the Multinational Aircrew Electronic Warfare Tactics FacilityPolygonerange on the border between Germany and France. EWTRs are equipped with ground-based equipment to simulate electronic warfare threats that aircrew might encounter on missions. Other EW training and tactics ranges are available for ground and naval forces as well.

AntifragileEW is a step beyond standard EP, occurring when a communications link being jammed actually increases in capability as a result of a jamming attack, although this is only possible under certain circumstances such as reactive forms of jamming.

Electronic warfare support

Main article:Electronic warfare support measures

RAF Menwith Hill,a largeECHELONsite in the United Kingdom, and part of theUK-USA Security Agreement

Electronic warfare support (ES) is a subdivision of EW involving actions taken by an operational commander or operator to detect, intercept, identify, locate, and/or localize sources of intended and unintended radiated electromagnetic (EM) energy. These Electronic Support Measures (ESM) aim to enable immediate threat recognition focuses on serving military service needs even in the most tactical, rugged, and extreme environments. This is often referred to as simply reconnaissance, although today, more common terms are intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) or intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR). The purpose is to provide immediate recognition, prioritization, and targeting of threats to battlefield commanders.

Signals intelligence(SIGINT), a discipline overlapping with ES, is the related process of analyzing and identifying intercepted transmissions from sources such as radio communication,mobile phones,radar,ormicrowave communication.SIGINT is broken into two categories: electronic intelligence (ELINT) and communications intelligence (COMINT). Analysis parameters measured in signals of these categories can includefrequency,bandwidth,modulation,andpolarization.

The distinction between SIGINT and ES is determined by the controller of the collection assets, the information provided, and the intended purpose of the information. Electronic warfare support is conducted by assets under the operational control of a commander to provide tactical information, specifically threat prioritization, recognition, location, targeting, and avoidance. However, the same assets and resources that are tasked with ES can simultaneously collect information that meets the collection requirements for more strategic intelligence.

History

The earliest documented use of EW was during theSecond Boer Warof 1899–1902. The British Army, when trying to relieve Ladysmith,under siege by the Boers,used asearchlightto "bounce" Morse code signals off the clouds. The Boers immediately spotted this and used one of their own searchlights in an attempt to jam the British signals. This was graphically described by Winston Churchill in his bookLondon to Ladysmith via Pretoria.

During theRusso-Japanese Warof 1904–1905 the Japaneseauxiliary cruiserShinano Maruhad located theRussian Baltic FleetinTsushima Strait,and was communicating the fleet's location by radio signals to the Imperial Japanese Fleet HQ. The captain of the Russian warshipUralrequested permission to disrupt the Japanese communications link by attempting to transmit a stronger radio signal over theShinano Maru'ssignal, hoping to distort the Japanese signal at the receiving end. Russian AdmiralZinovy Rozhestvenskyrefused the advice and denied theUralpermission to electronically jam the enemy, which in those circumstances might have proved invaluable. The intelligence the Japanese gained ultimately led to the decisiveBattle of Tsushima,where the Russian Navy lost all its battleships and most of its cruisers and destroyers. These losses effectively ended the Russo-Japanese War in Japan's favor.

DuringWorld War II,the Allies and Axis Powers both extensively used EW, or what Winston Churchill referred to as the "Battle of the Beams":as navigational radars were used to guide bombers to their targets and back to their base, the first application of EW in WWII was to interfere with the navigational radars.Chaffwas also introduced during WWII to confuse and defeat tracking radar systems.

As battlefield communication and radar technology improved, so did electronic warfare, which played a major role in several military operations during theVietnam War.Aircraft on bombing runs and air-to-air missions often relied on EW to survive the battle, although many were defeated by Vietnamese ECCM.

In 2007, an Israeli attack on a suspected Syrian nuclear site duringOperation Outside the Box(orOperation Orchard) used electronic warfare systems to disrupt Syrian air defenses while Israeli jets crossed much of Syria, bombed their targets, and returned to Israel undeterred.The target was a suspected nuclear reactor under construction near theEuphrates River,modeled after a North Korean reactor and supposedly financed with Iranian assistance. Some reports sayIsraeli EW systems deactivated all of Syria's air defense systems for the entire period of the raid.

In December 2010, the Russian Army deployed their first land-based multifunctional electronic warfare system known asBorisoglebsk 2,developed bySozvezdie.Development of the system started in 2004 and evaluation testing successfully completed in December 2010. The Borisoglebsk-2 uses four different typesof jamming stations on a single system. The Borisoglebsk-2 system is mounted on nineMT-LBarmored vehicles and is intended to suppress mobile satellite communications and satellite-based navigation signals.This EW system is developed to conduct electronic reconnaissance and suppression of radio-frequency sources.In August 2015, the Swedish newspaperSvenska Dagbladetsaid its initial usage caused concern within NATO.A Russian blog described Borisoglebsk-2 thus:

The 'Borisoglebsk-2', when compared to its predecessors, has better technical characteristics: wider frequency bandwidth for conducting radar collection and jamming, faster scanning times of the frequency spectrum, and higher precision when identifying the location and source of radar emissions, and increased capacity for suppression.

Ukrainian National Guardpersonnel display drone jammers and a downed Russian Grifon 12 drone in 2022

During the first two days of the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine,Russian EW disrupted Ukraine's air defense radars and communications, severely disrupting Ukrainian ground-based air defense systems. Russian jamming was so effective it interfered with their own communications, so efforts were scaled back. This led to UkrainianSAMsregaining much of their effectiveness, which began inflicting significant losses on Russian aircraft by the start of March 2022.Rapid Russian advances at the start of the war prevented EW troops from properly supporting the advancing troops, but by late March and April 2022, extensive jamming infrastructure had been deployed. EW complexes were set up inDonbasin concentrations of up to 10 complexes per 13 mi (21 km) of frontage. Electronic suppression of GPS and radio signals caused heavy losses of Ukrainian UAVs, depriving them of intelligence and precise artillery fire spotting. Smallquadcoptershad an average life expectancy of around three flights, and larger fixed-wing UAVs like theBayraktar TB2had a life expectancy of about six flights. By summer 2022, only some one-third of Ukrainian UAV missions could be said to have been successful, as EW had contributed to Ukraine losing 90% of the thousands of drones it had at the beginning of the invasion.

Russian EW capacity to disrupt GPS signals is credited with the reduction in the success of Ukrainian usage ofHIMARSandJDAMbombs. The failure of GPS guidance forces these weapons, in particular JDAMS, to useinertial navigation systemwhich reduces accuracy from around 5 metres (15 ft) down to around 27 metres (90 ft).

Ukraine was losing some 10,000 drones a month due to Russian electronic warfare, according to a 19 May 2023 report by theRoyal United Services Institute.This was an average of 300 drones a day. Russia has established EW posts about every 10 kilometres (6 mi) of the front, being some 6 kilometres (4 mi) back from the front line.In October 2023,The Economistreported that electronic warfare was in widespread use on front lines to impair small battlefield UAV activity, with Russia installing video feedback and control jammers on high-value equipment like tanks and artillery.By 11 March 2024, Ukraine reported it had destroyed a Russian Palantin EW system in Zaporizhzhia Oblast,which "suppress satellite radio navigation along the entire line of contact and in most parts of Ukraine, replacing the satellite radio navigation field (spoofing)".An estimated three Palantin systems have been hit (June 2022, February 2023, and March 2024).In addition to the Palantin, in Zaporizhzhia a Layer EW system was destroyed.

In popular culture

In the movieSpaceballs,an electronic attack "jams" a weapons system with a literal jar ofjam.In bothTop Gun: MaverickandBehind Enemy Lines,characters utilize chaff and flares from theirF/A-18sto confuse/deflect guided missiles.

See also

• Cyberwarfare
• Electromagnetic pulse
• Electromagnetic interference
• Electronic harassment
• L3Harris Technologies
• Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses(SEAD)

Other electronic warfare systems:

• ADM-160 MALD
• Krasukha (electronic warfare system)
• Radar warning receiver(RWR)
• Samyukta electronic warfare system
• Sky Shadow (radar)

Historic:

• 36th Electronic Warfare Squadron
• 55th Wing
• Battle of Latakia:the first recorded use of deception EW in a naval battle
• No. 100 Group RAF

U.S. specific:

• Association of Old Crows
• DARPA
• Electronic warfare officer
• Fleet Electronic Warfare Center
• Joint Functional Component Command – Network Warfare
• National Electronics Museum
• U.S. Marine Corps Radio Reconnaissance Platoon
• USACEWP(United States Army Computer Network Operations-Electronic Warfare Proponents )

References

Sources

• This article incorporatespublic domain materialfrom theUnited States Air Force
• This article incorporatespublic domain materialfromJoint Publication 3-13.1 Electronic Warfare(PDF).DTIC.
• The Changing Capability of Manpack Electronic Warfare SystemsArchived2016-01-02 at theWayback Machine
• Carlo Kopp. "Electronic Warfare in Operation Desert Storm",Australian Aviation,June/July/August, 1993
• Association of Old CrowsArchived2020-05-28 at theWayback Machine
• Electronic Warfare Jamming SystemsArchived2016-02-21 at theWayback Machine
• Information Warfare, Information Operations and Electronic Attack on APA
• Electronic Warfare ProductsArchived2018-10-29 at theWayback Machine
• Air Force Instruction on Electronic Warfare (EW) Operations(PDF)

Further reading

• EW 101: A First Course in Electronic Warfare;David Adamy; 2001;ISBN978-1580531696.
• EW 102: A Second Course in Electronic Warfare;David Adamy; 2004;ISBN978-1580536868.
• Deception in War;Jon Latimer; 2001;ISBN978-0719556050.
• FM 3-36: Electronic Warfare In Operations. Safeguarding Soldiers Through Technology.Fort Leavenworth,U.S. Army Combined Arms CenterArchived2011-09-28 at theWayback Machine(CAC), 26 February 2009 – PDF, 114 p., 4,5 MB. See also:John Milburn: Army manual raises emphasis on electronic warfare.The Washington Post,26 February 2009.
• Jogiaas, Aadu."Disturbing soviet transmissions in August 1991".Archived fromthe originalon 14 November 2011.
• Bolton, Matt; Munro, Matt (2011)."The Tallinn Cables"(PDF).Lonely Planet Magazine(December): 48–55. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2013-11-13.
• Winkler, Jonathan Reed (2017). "The Forgotten Menace of Electro-Magnetic Warfare in the Early Cold War".Diplomatic History.42(2): 254–280.