Electronic Warfare

Thirty years after EMS dominance enabled the U.S. and its coalition partners to rout Iraqi forces during Operation Desert Storm, this nation finds itself struggling to keep pace with its adversaries’ technological and doctrinal advances in the global EW arena. These adversaries, most prominently the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Russian Federation, understand and seek to exploit U.S. forces’ dependence on the EMS. Today’s character of war is heavily dependent on EMS and its ability to enable command, control and communications (C3), detection of enemy activities, targeting of weapons systems, and protection and disposition of its forces across all domains. Russian and Chinese use of passive sensors and jammers deny U.S. freedom of action within the EMS, while relying upon wired communications, multi-static and passive sensing, and their understanding of local conditions to gain an advantage in a highly contested electromagnetic (EM) environment.

Addressing challenges to U.S. EMSO will become more difficult as defense budgets come under pressure from competing demands for resources, including the projected costs of infrastructure improvements and other domestic initiatives, recovering from the economic recession, and servicing the growing national debt. Given the growing variety of adversary countermeasures and diverse demands for the commercial spectrum, both DoD and industry seek to modify or replace DoD EMS systems. The DoD has demonstrated a willingness to increase investment in new EW capabilities and upgrades to existing systems.  However, current approaches to managing resources and coordinating efforts are barely capable of bolstering current EW capabilities, let alone regaining EMS dominance. Absent significant, lasting changes in how the U.S. resources and integrates EW across all warfighting domains, and all relevant civil, military and foreign partnerships, U.S. forces will lack the capabilities they need to meet either the emerging threats from China and Russia or the pressures exerted by commercial entities for greater access to an already heavily congested EMS.

In particular, the lack of a common integrative change agent has enabled status quo – the perpetuation of EW systems acquisition and fielding that remain mired in the processes of the 20th century. Services and industry pursue efforts that address adversary capability-specific concerns without sufficient consideration of options for broader application or integration of efforts and technologies. Opportunities for collaboration abound, and while some show significant promise, the lack of a dedicated, empowered, driving force, ensuring that integration becomes the norm, not the exception, allows other prospects to slip away. Moreover, while the establishment of the EMSO Cross Functional Team (EMSO CFT) is a step in the right direction, its projected sunset, and the ensuing uncertainty regarding the continuation of its mandate to “take bold action across the Department to regain U.S. dominance in the Electromagnetic Spectrum,” demands immediate attention.

In recent remarks to The Aspen Institute, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks provided guidance that resonates with the need for greater integration across a broad spectrum of DoD and industry initiatives within the EW field.

“There is no single point solution or enabler that sparks innovation. This means that we are making department-wide, crosscutting adjustments relating to culture, people, systems and process…. The Department must leverage our unmatched test and lab infrastructure to spur both innovation and competition across the public and private sectors. And we need to be sure that DoD’s vast ecosystem of innovative organizations is sufficiently integrated and optimized. This means being able to share best practices and key findings focused on the most important national security challenges.” (emphasis added).

The U.S. has a healthy EW ecosystem that is producing pockets of success and innovation. To accelerate innovation and satisfy the ESSS’s identified need “to develop new capabilities, new techniques, and better integration within DoD and with its partners,” the DoD should embrace established theories of military innovation. Common among the models of military innovation is the need for a change agent and the requirement for some form of top-down pressure.  The DoD must exert this high-level pressure by creating and resourcing a strong, empowered, central change agent to effectively implement and integrate industry innovations and service EW efforts to produce a joint EMSO capability sufficiently resilient and forward leaning to meet current and future threats.

This paper will explore the opportunities for integration by examining the health of the EW industry and the factors that influence it. The study will also assess EW industry in terms of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and will offer recommendations a change agent should implement, together with suggested priority actions DoD leadership should facilitate to better integrate efforts of industry and government to achieve EMSO superiority.

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