The US Army is quickly rearming its electronic warriors due to drone jamming between Russia and Ukraine.

The US Army is quickly rearming its electronic warriors due to drone jamming between Russia and Ukraine.

The US Army’s Rush to Revitalize Electronic Warfare Capabilities

Electronic warfare (EW) has become a prominent aspect of modern warfare, particularly in conflicts like the ongoing war in Ukraine. Both Ukraine and Russia are actively using EW to interfere with each other’s operations and gain an advantage on the battlefield. This has created a sense of urgency for the US Army to update its own EW weaponry and capabilities.

The catalyst for this rush to revitalize EW capabilities is the war in Ukraine, where cheap but plentiful drones have played a significant role. These drones are being used for various tasks, from spotting artillery positions to destroying armored vehicles. However, jamming has emerged as one of the most effective counter-drone weapons. Ukraine is losing thousands of drones each month, many of them to Russian electronic warfare systems. In response, Ukraine is striving to enhance its own jamming capabilities. Rather than using expensive anti-aircraft missiles and guns to shoot down a drone, it’s often easier and more cost-effective to disrupt the drone’s link with its operator, causing it to crash.

This situation has renewed the US Army’s focus on electronic warfare upgrades. According to Douglas Bush, the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics, and technology, the Army is now “fundamentally reinvesting in rebuilding our tactical electronic-warfare capability after that largely left the force over the last 20 years.”

Several programs are already underway, but the urgency has increased due to the developments in Ukraine. The problem is that the US military has lost some of its expertise in electronic warfare. As General Charles Brown Jr., the incoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated, the US military has “lost some muscle memory” in this domain after primarily fighting low-tech adversaries in the decades following the Cold War.

While the Air Force and Navy have long devoted significant resources to jamming enemy radars and anti-aircraft weapons, the Army’s electronic-warfare capabilities face several challenges. Russia and China have heavily invested in electronic warfare capabilities, such as signals intelligence-gathering, which allows them to locate radio transmitters and pinpoint the locations of enemy units and command posts.

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Ukrainian forces have achieved great success in using electronic warfare to locate and destroy Russian command posts. In response, Russia has utilized its electronic warfare capabilities to disrupt Ukraine’s GPS-guided bombs and rockets. This success has raised concerns among some US Army commanders about the vulnerability of their own command posts, which have an electronic footprint that could be easily exploited by advanced adversaries.

The reliance on electronic communications makes the US military particularly vulnerable to electronic warfare. The US military’s way of war heavily depends on the precise coordination of operations across land, sea, air, space, and cyber domains through data networks. Disrupting these communications severely compromises the effectiveness and coordination of US forces.

To counter this vulnerability, the US Army is actively working to develop and enhance its electronic-warfare capabilities. For example, the Army’s Terrestrial Layer System – Brigade Combat Team program aims to mount an electronic-warfare suite on Stryker armored vehicles to enable maneuver brigades to detect and disrupt enemy communications. The goal is to provide maneuver commanders with electronic attack and offensive cyber warfare options to deny, degrade, disrupt, or manipulate enemy signals of interest and the targeted force.

In addition to the TLS-BCT program, the US Army is exploring other projects, such as mounting a jamming pod on an MQ-1C Gray Eagle drone. These initiatives, along with ongoing updates to existing electronic-warfare weapons, aim to enhance the Army’s ability to counter enemy jamming capabilities.

Overall, the observation of events in Ukraine reinforces the US Army’s commitment to revitalizing its electronic-warfare capabilities. The Army is determined to stay on track with programs like TLS-BCT and higher-echelon EW programs, recognizing the importance of countering the growing threat of electronic warfare. Although the US Army’s electronic-warfare weapons are still effective, ongoing updates and lessons learned from the conflict in Ukraine are crucial to ensure the Army remains at the forefront of this rapidly evolving domain.

A US Army’s 1st Infantry Division soldier trains on electronic-warfare equipment on September 6, 2019.

Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds a master’s in political science. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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