Electronic countermeasure
An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to
History
The first example of electronic countermeasures being applied in a combat situation took place during the
World War II ECM expanded to include dropping chaff (originally called Window), jamming and spoofing radar and navigation signals.[1] German bomber aircraft navigated using radio signals transmitted from ground stations, which the British disrupted with spoofed signals in the Battle of the Beams. During the RAF's night attacks on Germany the extent of electronic countermeasures was much expanded, and a specialised organisation, No. 100 Group RAF, was formed to counter the increasing German night fighter force and radar defences. Cold War developments included anti-radiation missiles designed to home in on enemy radar transmitters.[1]
In the 2007
Radar ECM
Basic radar ECM strategies are (1) radar interference, (2) target modifications, and (3) changing the electrical properties of air.
Communications ECM
Radio jamming or communications jamming is the deliberate transmission of radio signals that disrupt communications by decreasing the signal-to-noise ratio to the point where the target communications link is either degraded or denied service.
Aircraft ECM
ECM is practiced by nearly all modern military units—land, sea or air. Aircraft, however, are the primary weapons in the ECM battle because they can "see" a larger patch of earth than a sea or land-based unit. When employed effectively, ECM can keep aircraft from being tracked by search radars, or targeted by surface-to-air missiles or air-to-air missiles. An aircraft ECM can take the form of an attachable underwing pod or could be embedded in the airframe. Fighter planes using a conventional electronically scanned antenna mount dedicated jamming pods instead or, in the case of the US, German, and Italian air forces, may rely on electronic warfare aircraft to carry them. ECM pods vary widely in power and capability; while many fighter aircraft are capable of carrying an ECM pod, these pods are generally less powerful, capable and of shorter range than the equipment carried by dedicated ECM aircraft, thus making dedicated ECM aircraft an important part of any airforce’s inventory.
Future airborne jammers
The Next Generation Jammer is being developed to replace the current AN/ALQ-99 carried on the E/A-18G electronic warfare plane. Planned for adoption around 2020, it will use a small AESA antenna divided into quadrants[5] for all around coverage and retain the capability of highly directional jamming.
DARPA's Precision Electronic Warfare (PREW) project aims to develop a low-cost system capable of synchronizing several simple airborne jamming pods with enough precision to replicate the directionality of an electronically scanned antenna, avoiding collateral jamming of non-targeted receivers.[6]
An expendable active decoy that uses
Dedicated ECM aircraft
- EA-3 Skywarrior
- EB-66 Destroyer
- EC-130H Compass Call
- EA-6B Prowler equipped with ALQ-92 communications jammer, ALQ-100 multi-band track breaking system, and five ALQ-99 tactical jammer pods.[9]
- EA-18G Growler
- EF-111A Raven
- Tornado ECR
- J-16 D
- Su-24MP
- Yak-28PP
- Mi-8PP
Shipboard ECM
The ULQ-6 deception transmitter was one of the earlier shipboard ECM installations.
Infrared and acoustic analogies
Infrared homing systems can be decoyed with flares[1] and other infrared countermeasures. Acoustic homing and detection systems used for ships are also susceptible to countermeasures. United States warships use Masker and PRAIRIE (propeller AIR Ingestion and Emission) systems to create small air bubbles around a ship's hull and wake to reduce sound transmission.[1] Surface ships tow noisemakers like the AN/SLQ-25 Nixie to decoy homing torpedoes.[1] Submarines can deploy similar acoustic device countermeasures (or ADCs) from a 3-inch (75-mm) signal launching tube.[1] United States ballistic missile submarines could deploy the Mark 70 MOSS (Mobile submarine simulator) decoy from torpedo tubes to simulate a full size submarine.[1] Most navies additionally equip ships with decoy launchers.[10]
See also
- Electronic warfare
- No. 100 Group RAF
- Starshel rounds
- Krasukha (electronic warfare system)
- Khibiny (electronic countermeasures system)
- Samyukta electronic warfare system
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Polmar (1979), p. 121.
- ISBN 978-605-80897-7-8. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
- ^ [1] By YAAKOV KATZ, 09/29/2010, Jerusalem Post
- ^ Israel Shows Electronic Prowess Nov 26, 2007, David A. Fulghum and Robert Wall, Aviation Week & Space Technology
- ^ "IN FOCUS: US Navy Next Generation Jammer proceeds, but F-35 integration deferred indefinitely".
- ^ Broad Agency Announcement Precision Electronic Warfare (PREW) STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY OFFICE DARPA-BAA 09-65
- ^ "New Selex ES expendable active decoy 'britecloud' selected by saab for gripen fighter – DETAIL – Leonardo". uk.leonardocompany.com. Archived from the original on 2016-08-16. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
- ^ "Finmeccanica – Selex Es to hold britecloud trials with Gripen – DETAIL – Leonardo". uk.leonardocompany.com. Archived from the original on 2016-08-16. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
- ^ a b c d e Polmar (1979), p. 122.
- ^ http://www.terma.com/media/118849/skws_022007.pdf Archived 2013-04-26 at the Wayback Machine [bare URL PDF]
Sources
- Polmar, Norman: "The U. S. Navy Electronic Warfare (Part 2)", United States Naval Institute Proceedings, November 1979.
- Electronic Counter Measures (PDF) (Lee Pucker)
- A Down of Electronic Counter Measures- in Russian
- 100 years of ECM- in Russian