Posted on 02/01/2016 10:20:58 AM PST by Citizen Zed
As Army leaders work behind the scenes to beef up the force's electronic warfare capability, which lags about 25 years behind most other modern countries, Congress is readying a new piece of legislation to help military leaders procure the funds necessary to catch up with the rest of the globe, according to a preview of a new bill viewed by the Washington Free Beacon.
Countries such a Russia, China, and Iran have made significant gains in the electronic warfare arena in recent years, according to congressional and military officials who spoke to the Free Beacon.
Meanwhile, the United States has fallen far behind on this front due to shrinking budgets and an acquisitions process for new technologies that can take more than a decade to complete.
The new bill seeks to cut through this red tape by giving Pentagon leaders more flexibility on how funds are spent within the electronic warfare umbrella. It is just the first step of many that will be required to bring the United States into the modern age, officials say.
"It is critical our military dominate the offensive and defensive ends of electronic warfare because our enemies know they can harm our troops by targeting our electronic systems," Sen. Mark Kirk (R., Ill.), a leading sponsor of the bill who recently met with military leaders to discuss the threat, told the Free Beacon.
(Excerpt) Read more at freebeacon.com ...
Total and utter Bravo Sierra.
The US holds a significant lead in many areas in ECM and EW, and many of our allies buy their EW and ECM equipment from us.
Some of them make very decent stuff themselves and we use some of it.
But the statement above is just nonsense and being alarmist to push a position.
You are correct. Though the Army has closed some of it’s EW ranges and has started sending units to train on the Navy and Marine Corps EW ranges in an effort to save money. It also goes a long way to ensure all the services are on the same page tactics wise in the EW arena.
Ping...
I concur Jeff, what we need as far as electronic warfare may be concerned, is to stick to security protocol with our classified information so the enemies’ EW doesn’t intercept in a beneficial manner.
Not naming any names...
When the Iraq War started in 2003, the Army was considerably lacking in ECM and EW capabilities, especially at the tactical level. This was a big contrast with Naval and Air Force aviation forces who had developed their EW capabilities during the air campaign in North Vietnam. The Army had to borrow EW staff officers from the Navy to give them expertise to plan and execute combat operations in the midst of a significant IED threat controlled by electronic means. With considerable effort, the enemy was driven from the electronic spectrum and reverted to press plates and command wire detonation, the Vietnam era tool of choice.
Much of that capability lacks full integration to the Army's weapons systems as it had to be improvised on the fly.
Thank you for this post
We are so far ahead of our enemies in this space they will never catch up in our lifetime
Thanks Hijinx
“As Army leaders work behind the scenes to beef up the force’s electronic warfare capability, which lags about 25 years behind most other modern countries ...”
There was just a story about how the US has the best electronic-warfare capability in the world ... which is it?
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LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
I built some very sophisticated systems for the Army.
Training them to use it like the Navy and Airforce is another matter.
The Marines surprised me.
sharp guys
The Army focuses much more on COMINT while the Navy's focus is on ELINT.
"Ceterum censeo 0bama esse delendam."
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
My last combat deployment was to Afghanistan to help the Army with their new equipment. The Navy guys did the rotation ahead of us, and had to FIND where the equipment was being stored! By the time we left, the Army was mostly up to speed. Mostly.
Your experience was repeated everywhere. It was a tall mountain to climb.
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