March 13, 2024 | International, Aerospace
November 30, 2018 | International, C4ISR
What will forces need in complex EW environment?
By: Mark Pomerleau
Sophisticated adversaries have been leveraging the electromagnetic spectrum to create significant dilemmas for U.S. and allied forces, say officials, and transformative efforts are needed to deal with an increasing complicated threat.
“China is outspending us probably 10 to 1 on trying to figure out how to use and manipulate the electromagnetic spectrum. Russia showed us what they're going to do with it in their incursion into Ukraine ... Electromagnetic warfare, electronic warfare at the maneuver level,” Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the annual Association of Old Crows symposium held Nov. 28 in Washington, D.C.
“We haven't designed ourselves to fight that fight. They have demonstrated that they are not only willing, but they're [also] capable of deploying and employing electronic countermeasures at the ground and maneuver level. It is a reality that we are going to have to adjust to.”
The capabilities forces need
For the Army, it's not going to be one thing, Col. Mark Dotson, the capabilities manager for electronic warfare at the Cyber Center of Excellence, said at the symposium Nov. 27. There have to be layered capabilities and effects, each increasing range and sensing capability.
“We're still sorting through that,” Dotson said, noting the need to develop from the current tactical focus all the way to the strategic level.
“We're trying to expand our scope and get into what are those other things we need. Do we need artillery delivered capability? Do we need loitering munitions? Is it going to manned or is it an unmanned aircraft?”
In addition, Dotson said, the Army needs systems integrating EW, cyber and signals intelligence, and the service has started generating requirements working with the Intelligence Center of Excellence and the Cyber Center of Excellence.
“I think SIGINT and EW go hand in hand, so us not sharing going forward and working like a team like we do now makes no sense,” Col. Jennifer McAfee, Dotson's counterpart for Terrestrial and Identity at the Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, told C4ISRNET in a November interview.
McAfee added that the team is also joining up with the other centers of excellence to ensure that when they are pursuing requirements for airborne or ground systems, the Intelligence and Cyber centers are plugged in to leverage EW expertise and not create duplicative efforts.
Geolocating solutions
Others across the joint force have expressed the desire for more decoys, physical or non-physical, to confuse or confound enemy systems.
“It's network electronic warfare from air, sea and land; it's smart warfare combined with advanced decoys, whether they're physical decoys or cyber decoys out there; drones, swarms and jamming drones,” Col. John Edwards, commander of the 28th Bomb Wing, said at the symposium.
“Things that go out there to where an air defense operator cannot distinguish between what is cyber and what is real out there.”
Such aerial systems can be used to either overwhelm or distract air defenses, allowing strike aircraft to penetrate, or take the point jamming the air defenses and thus assuming all the risk leaving the more expensive and manned systems in the rear.
On the ground side, officials have also discussed the need for more investments in decoys.
Lt. Gen. Stephen Fogarty, commander of Army Cyber Command, told reporters in August that big investments needed to be made in this area. He envisioned forces being able to drop a decoy emitting strong signals off a truck at a fork in the road, thus drawing enemy attention to it.
“Now we're presenting multiple dilemmas to the adversary,” he said.
One of the difficulties of modern warfare is all jammers and sensors emit some kind of a signal in the electromagnetic spectrum, meaning they can be geolocated and targeted. This means if an enemy wants to use it, they have to take into account a risk calculus in revealing their position.
“Jammers are emitters, emitters are targets. I think that's something we really ought to be thinking about,” Selva said. “If you're going to operate in an electronically dense environment ... the tools actually reveal their position."
Similarly, decoys can be used to throw adversaries off the trail of friendly forces or distract from other items forces might want to protect.
”If I have something like a counterfire radar, that's really important to me. Maybe what I want to do, again, is push an alternate threat to the adversary," Fogarty said.
In these complex environments, Selva said forces need to be able to identify, localize and characterize the jammer. If that's possible, then forces can decide what to do with it. If the answer is they want to kill it, they have to have a tool to kill it.
“If you can't do all three of those things, the jamming is very effective,” he said.
On the same subject
-
-
June 11, 2021 | International, Land
Textron's Cottonmouth emerges for USMC recce vehicle requirement
Textron announced its Cottonmouth 6×6 armoured vehicle as an entrant for the US Marine Corps' (USMC) Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle (ARV) requirement in May, revealing that the vehicle had entered validation testing at the National Automoti...
-
February 25, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence
Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - February 19, 2019
AIR FORCE United Launch Services, Centennial, Colorado, has been awarded a $441,761,778 firm-fixed-price contract, for launch services to deliver the SILENTBARKER, SBIRS GEO-5, and SBIRS GEO-6 missions to their intended orbits. This launch service contract will include launch vehicle production, mission integration, mission launch operations/spaceflight worthiness, and mission unique activities for SILENTBARKER and SBIRS GEO-5, with an option for an additional SBIRS GEO-6 launch service. The locations of performance are Centennial, Colorado; and Cape Canaveral, Florida. SILENTBARKER is expected to be completed by March 2022, SBIRS GEO-5 is expected to be completed by March 2021. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and two offers were received. Fiscal 2018 and 2019 space procurement funds in the amount of $308,550,970 will be obligated at the time of award. The Contracting Division, Launch Systems Enterprise Directorate, Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, El Segundo, California, is the contracting activity (FA8811-19-C-0005). Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Hawthorne, California, has been awarded a $297,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract, for launch services to deliver the NROL-87, NROL-85, and AFSPC-44 missions to their intended orbits. This launch service contract will include launch vehicle production, mission integration, mission launch operations/spaceflight worthiness and mission unique activities for each mission. The locations of performance are Hawthorne, California; Cape Canaveral Air Force Space Station, Florida; and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. NROL-85 and NROL-87 are expected to be completed by December 2021 and AFSPC-44 is expected to be completed by February 2021. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and two offers were received. Fiscal 2018 and 2019 space procurement funds in the amount of $285,223,097 will be obligated at the time of award. The Contracting Division, Launch Systems Enterprise Directorate, Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, El Segundo, California, is the contracting activity (FA8811-19-C-0004). NAVY Marine Systems Corp., Boston, Massachusetts, is awarded a $29,111,774 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price hybrid single award contract for engineering, logistical, and information technology services to support the Navy Habitability Projects. The contract will include a five-year base ordering period with a six-month ordering period option pursuant of Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.212-8 - option to extend services, which if exercised, will bring the total ceiling value to $32,191,928. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia (84 percent); San Diego, California (5 percent); Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (5 percent); Mayport, Florida (2 percent); Washington, District of Columbia (1 percent); Bahrain (1 percent); Japan (1 percent); and Rota, Spain (1 percent). The base ordering period is expected to be completed by March 2024; if the option is exercised, the ordering period will be completed by August 2024. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $25,000 will be obligated to fund the contract's minimum amount and funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with the solicitation posted to the Federal Business Opportunities and Navy Electronic Commerce Online websites, with five offers received. Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department Norfolk Office, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N0018919D0004). Vadum Inc.,* Raleigh, North Carolina, is awarded a $9,413,901 cost-plus-fixed-fee, level of effort, research and development contract with a five-year period of performance, to procure engineering support services. Technical instructions will be issued in accordance with the Statement of Work for this contract to support the Reactive Electronic Attack Measures project. Work will be performed in Raleigh, North Carolina, and will be completed by February 2024. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funding in the amount of $1,000,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1) - only one responsible source and no other services will satisfy agency requirements. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, Crane, Indiana, is the contracting activity (N00164-19-C-WS30). Lockheed Martin, Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is awarded an $8,242,834 cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-15-C-5151) to exercise options for ship integration and test of the Aegis Weapon System (AWS) for AWS Baselines through Advanced Capability Build 16. Work will be performed in Camden, New Jersey (43 percent); Pascagoula, Mississippi (25 percent); Norfolk, Virginia (12 percent); Everett, Washington (10 percent); Virginia Beach, Virginia (6 percent); San Diego, California (3 percent); and Washington, District of Columbia (1 percent), and is expected to be completed by September 2024. Fiscal 2015 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); and 2019 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $8,242,834 will be obligated at the time of award. No contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. ARMY T&H Services LLC,* Juneau, Alaska, was awarded a $26,468,671 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for base operations support services. Bids were solicited via the internet with six received. Work will be performed in Fort Carson, Colorado, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 18, 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance Army funds in the amount of $5,019,250 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command, Fort Carson, Colorado, is the contracting activity (W911RZ-19-C-0002). Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions Inc., Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, was awarded a $12,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for hazardous toxic and radiologic waste consulting services. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 19, 2024. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Concord, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity (W912WJ-19-D-0002). * Small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1760766/