The importance of Electronic Warfare (EW) cannot be overemphasized. Having an adversary monitor one’s communications or eliminate one’s ability to communicate or navigate can be catastrophic.
NATO defines Electronic Warfare as a military action that exploits electromagnetic energy, both actively and passively, to provide situational awareness and create offensive and defensive effects.
Electronic warfare involves the manipulation of the electromagnetic spectrum, which is the entire distribution of electromagnetic radiation according to frequency or wavelength.
EW is divided into three major areas:
- Electronic Warfare Support – This involves actions taken by an operational commander or operator to detect, intercept, identify or locate sources of intended and unintended radiated electromagnetic energy. Sometimes this is simply referred to as reconnaissance. The purpose is to provide immediate recognition, prioritization, and targeting of threats to battlefield commanders.
- Electronic Attack – This involves the offensive use of EM energy, directed energy or anti-radiation weapons to attack personnel, facilities or equipment. In the case of EM energy, this action is most commonly known as jamming. It can be performed on communication systems or radar systems.
- Electronic Protection – This is about protecting friendly forces from the effects of an EM assault. For example, flares are often used to distract infrared homing missiles to miss their target.
But, like so many area in technology, EW is also a field of rapid evolution that requires anyone working in this discipline to constantly update their skillsets in order to keep up with cutting-edge architectural landscapes.
This trend is happening in large part due to militaries placing greater emphasis on “surgical strikes” rather than all-out human to human physical combat.
In fact, due to both the evolution of how NATO conducts operations and the emerging technologies, the focus for EW has shifted from isolated operations in the EMS to joint Electromagnetic Operations (EMO) in the Electromagnetic Environment (EME).
The EME is the geophysical environment, influenced by such factors as terrain, weather and atmospheric conditions, which supports the radiation, propagation, and reception of electromagnetic energy across the entire EMS.
Want to learn more? Tonex offers several courses in Electronic Warfare, including: