electronic warfare

The Army is transforming its Cyber Command to meet the challenges of a multidomain battlefield. Just over eight years old, the command, located at Ft. Gordon, Georgia, will evolve by 2028 into something possibly called the Army Information Warfare Operations Command, which will fully incorporate cyber, electronic warfare and information operations.

Bell Boeing Joint Project Office, Amarillo, Texas, was awarded $10,656,686 for modification P00002 to a previously issued delivery order (N0001918F1645) placed against basic ordering agreement, N00019-17-G-0002. This modification exercises the option to procure 12 A-Kits to retrofit legacy fleet aircraft with the AN/APR-39D(V)2, AN/AAQ-24B(V)27, and the ALE-47 Power Performance Computing, upgrading the MV-22 from Configuration A to Configuration C. In addition, this modification provides for the procurement of 12 APR-39D(V)2 A-Kits to install the AN/APR-39D (V)2 system on any of the 48 previously Integrated Aircraft Survivability Equipment retrofitted aircraft, upgrading the MV-22 from Configuration B to Configuration C.

Data from mobile device signals such as GSM may be an untapped resource for signals intelligence on the battlefield. Although the payload of a communication system is encoded, information about the nature of the communication that is included in the GSM signal is not and should not be overlooked. This information, known as metadata, could prove to be an important tool for warfighters, experts say.

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., doing business as Northrop Grumman Mission Systems Sector, Bethpage, New York, is awarded a $697,029,788 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for system upgrades for the EA-18G system configuration sets, Airborne Electronic Attack and Electronic Warfare systems and final upgrades for the EA-6B system for the Navy and the government of Australia under the Foreign Military Sales program. Work will be performed in Pt. Mugu, California (50 percent); Baltimore, Maryland (29 percent); Bethpage, New York (20 percent); and Rolling Meadows, Illinois (1 percent), and is expected to be completed in October 2023.

Work is needed to improve temporal, spectral and information understanding within the layers of the cyber domain to facilitate useful cyber-spectral and information maneuver. These advances could be incorporated into tactics, techniques and procedures as well as tactical and operational systems to enhance the overall military commanders’ decision process to achieve information dominance.

Most of the tactical cyberspace domain is spectrum-dependent and administered solely at the physical layer. Currently, warfighters cannot comprehend, much less maneuver within, a space that is inaccessible to them because they are not in a dimensionality to understand it. They operate in a cyber-spectral flatland.

Northrup Grumman Systems Corp., Linthicum Heights, Maryland, is awarded a $9,000,000 cost-only modification to previously awarded contract N00024-15-C-5319 for long lead material for Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP) Block 3 low-rate initial production. The SEWIP is an evolutionary acquisition and incremental development program to upgrade the existing AN/SLQ-32(V) electronic warfare system. SEWIP Block 3 will provide select Navy surface ships a scalable electronic warfare enterprise suite with improved electronic attack capabilities. Work will be performed in Linthicum, Maryland (98 percent); and Los Angeles, California (2 percent), and is expected to be completed by November 2020.

The U.S. Army is making multiple changes to the way it educates soldiers fighting in the cyber and electronic warfare domains. Rather than training soldiers on step-by-step processes, the service is educating personnel to come up with their own solutions on a technologically complex battlefield.

As electronic warfare is re-emerging as a key battlefield function, the commercial sector is striving to offer advanced technologies. Land-based systems are needed to combat both ground and airborne adversarial threats, while airborne electronic warfare tools provide maneuverable tactics to marque aircraft.

The focus of Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC’s) dismounted electronic countermeasure system, known as Modi, has evolved from defeating radio-controlled improvised explosive devices (RCIEDs) to being a multi-function electronic warfare (EW) tool, explained Jerry Coburn, director, business development, SNC, during a recent interview with SIGNAL Magazine.

Raytheon Co., Fort Wayne, Indiana, was awarded a $49,025,060 modification (P00005) to contract W15P7T-14-D-C006 for the development of Electronic Warfare Program Management Tool, Capability Drop 4 (CD4) along with interim contractor support required for the maintenance and fielding of CD3 through CD4. Work will be performed in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with an estimated completion date of September 30, 2022. Fiscal year 2018 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $1 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity.