Electronic warfare

Getting the services on the same wavelength about electronic warfare

The Pentagon is expected to spend $47 billion over the next five years to modernize its electronic warfare systems. Without this funding, experts say that the U.S. military, already trailing Russia and China in some areas, would struggle on a future battlefield.

But several experts and government personnel now insist the Department of Defense needs a top-down vision to the services that would help guide operations, investments and capabilities within the electromagnetic spectrum.

“On the policy side, not to be terse, but there isn’t necessarily an overarching policy strategy that I can see,” said Will Mackenzie, research associate in the defense program at the Center for a New American Security. “There isn’t necessarily as comprehensive an approach vis-à-vis a Russia or China.”

Leaders from Russia and China have said that in future conflicts they will target communications systems first to prevent opponents from coordinating and to stop radars from detecting threats.