Electronic Attack Prominent In Defense Budget

Aviation Week and Space Technology ^ | 1/14/2010 | David A. Fulghum

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Electronic and computer attack—the futuristic segment of the Pentagon’s arsenal—will benefit from the proposed 2011 military spending plan, but identifying all the key pieces is difficult without close scrutiny.

Electronic attack (EA) includes invading networks and releasing beams of energy against improvised explosive devices (IEDs). These blasts of energy are sometimes generated by U.S. Navy EA-6B Prowlers and Air Force EC-130 Compass Call aircraft to prematurely detonate or disable bombs. In addition, an EA-6B Prowler—and its EA-18G Growler successor— can drop a “cone of ­silence” on emitters within a given tactical area to prevent enemy communications.

Computer invasion and network attack also are finding a place in the EA arsenal. An electronic beam packed with malicious algorithms can be directed into the antennas of an air defense system or command-and-control network. Similar beams of energy—sometimes generated from active, electronically scanned array radars—can disable enemy missile or aircraft sensors. These features will likely become part of the Navy’s Next-Generation Jammer, which will be paired with the advanced AESA radars of the F-22, F-35, EA-18G, F/A-18E/F and modified versions of the F-15E aircraft.

New missile variants, such as the miniature air-launched decoy-jammer (MALD-J) standoff weapon, will be able to misdirect and confuse enemy sensors from very close range even within heavily protected areas. Other weapons —including a new line of bombs being developed at the Eglin AFB Armaments Center—will generate an electromagnetic pulse that damages electronics.

Moreover, the larger UAVs and unmanned combat aircraft are likely to carry jamming and other EA attack payloads (possibly multi-shot) as they mature and onboard sources of electrical generation improve.

[A.A. Cunningham]

These blasts of energy are sometimes generated by U.S. Navy EA-6B Prowlers

Marine Corps Prowlers were the first to be used against IEDs. Prior to OIF the Navy wasn't that focused on suppressing the low band threat.