Spills over. Spectrum based tech is used in every sector.

The weapons and technologies of war are constantly evolving - changing more rapidly year to year in the 21st Century than they did century to century when Chinese general Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War some 2,500 years ago. Yet Sun Tzu's writings remain central guidelines even today; the need to control the high ground is applicable to one of the most advanced and increasingly critical realms of modern combat: electronic warfare (EW).

"Spectrum dominance is the new high ground; all weapons systems today are highly reliant on communications of one sort or another, whether global positioning system (GPS) or internal communications. If someone can distort GPS or disable onboard systems, you're toast," says Bob Schena, CEO of Rajant Corp. in Malvern, Pa. "On a scale of 1 to 10, it's a 12. We are so reliant on communications in our style of fighting that it is absolutely critical and will get even more critical. If you're at a communications disadvantage, I don't see how you can last very long."

Soldiers in the field are able to carry electronic countermeasure systems that fit into individual backpacks. This man-packable capability, such as the Sierra Nevada system the warfighter in this photo is carrying, can be configured to provide on-the-move EW defensive, offensive, and support operations for any deployed force worldwide. [Photo: Sierra Nevada Corp.]

EW itself is changing as well, with the lines between EW, cyber warfare, and signals intelligence (SIGINT) tending to blur in the heat of battle.

"We call it Spectrum Operations, which touches every type of operation - combat, humanitarian, etc.," notes U.S. Marine Corps Col. Gregory Breazile, director of the Marine Corps Information Warfare Integration Division at Quantico Marine Base, Va. "Spectrum is a physical means we use to support our operations, from sensing adversaries to supporting our own operational capabilities. We debated whether to call it Spectrum Warfare, but that was determined to be somewhat limiting, while Spectrum Ops better covered it all.

"We've also debated about whether spectrum should be another domain of warfighting," Breazile continues. "When we talk about 5th generation warfare, it really is spectrum that is the physical means where we will deliver effects on the battlefield that are different from what we've done in the past. I think that debate will continue and in the future we may see spectrum declared an operational domain. Nothing we've done in the past will resemble what we will do employing EW in the future, using multifunctional capabilities for sensing, attack, and force protection."

A similar reconfiguration is under- way in the U.S. Army, says Maj. Rich-ard Michel, Cyber & EW Operations Troop Commander within the Army's Asymmetric Warfare Group (AWG) at Fort Meade, Md. "As a result of our better understanding of multi-domain battle and our use of EW, cyber, and space ops as they continue to evolve, we will continue to experience a more advanced and capable Army than has ever been seen in history," Michel says. "AWG's job is to look at the decision-making process, how that will change doctrine and organizations. New technologies give commanders better options on how to employ that capability. That is an inevitability and an absolute positive for the Army, with greater capabilities and technologies empowering us to accomplish our goals.

"The force today is drastically different from what it was 10 years ago. Advances in EW enable a commander to make decisions he never had 50 years ago. In the past, a commander may have had no choice but to allow an adversary to use a specific asset or to destroy that asset. EW gives that commander other options, such as degrading or disabling an asset for a period of time."

"Just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions. He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning may be called a heaven-born captain." - Sun Tzu

While others maintain EW is not, and probably never will be, declared a full and independent domain of war - joining air, land, sea, space, and cyber - Kent Snyder, vice president of Sierra Nevada Corp. in Sparks, Nev., says he has a different perspective.

"Going from an asymmetric fight and limited capability adversary in an austere environment to a peer or near-peer fight changes the paradigm. The EW fight now is being looked at in a more traditional sense of full-spectrum military operations, making it an integral part of how we fight, where before it was more an appended capability. EW is becoming as critical as a domain of battle as air, sea, and land and is gaining parity with those actual domains of battle," Snyder says.

"How EW will change the battlefield is growing and we must move as aggressively as possible to improve our fielded capabilities," Snyder continues. "The capability that is integrated into military forces worldwide will be the most relevant. With respect to EW, it is the military force spun up to integrate into its various formations that will provide a decisive advantage on the battlefield. Obviously Russia and China are the other key players, but there are a lot of others out there."

Some of the key technologies that are either already part of deployed EW capabilities, soon will be, or are targets include:

digital signal processing;

high-performance, small-form factor embedded computing;

advanced algorithms;

RF and microwave transceivers and components;

electronics miniaturization;

digitally programmable radar and communications;

jammers and anti-jammers;

GPS and companion/replacement location/navigation systems; and

counter-measures to the counter-measures.

"We provide oversight over the acquisition of capabilities we require. When we write require- ments, we give them to the Marine Corps acquisition arm," Breazile explains. "As part of that process, we also are tied into the S&T [science and technology] world and communicate with industry so we understand what is out there. We want to be well-informed about future capabilities."

U.S. military bases are linking every individual, platform, office, and sensor into wireless communications networks. Overcoming the vulnerabilities of such systems has become a major task for the militaries growing cadre of electronic warfare researchers and warriors. (Drawing by Rajant Corp.)