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Here’s a sample of the comments on this post.
If you think jamming is screwing with our UAVs, wait until you see what else the Ruskie ECM dudes can do to stop our UAVs and why I have been saying for years that we should NOT convert most of our combat aircraft to UAVs. We need to keep those babies as manned aircraft because I could take down most of them with technology we used in ECM during Nam.
This thing is just getting started and, if you could see what is going on behind secret doors, you know, in ECM shops, it is very interesting. This is ECM fun and games time.
You should see the crap we used to do and I know we can do better today.
That is the game I played in Nam with ECM or Electronic Counter Measures. We developed a counter to their measure, they developed a counter to our counter to their measure, and we developed a counter to their counter to our counter to their measure. That is why it is called counter measures.
In modern warfare, ever since WWII, that has been the most important battle on the battle field because both sides are fighting to gather intel while denying the other side intel. The one who wins that battle, wins the war.
Here is some fun intel I learned in ECM school a few billion years ago. In one of my classes, I got to play with an actual jammer that was used on a B-17 during WWII.
Do you know which crew member was responsible for the electronics warfare or ECM on a B-17 during WWII?
The radio operator, who was the only enlisted man in the crew. He had a radio for communications, a frequency scanner, and three jammers for different frequencies in a rack along side his table along with dispensing rope chaff to block enemy radio communications.
Once they got over Europe and started radio silence, most of what the radio operator did was monitor radar and communications known to be on their route and jam communications and radar so the radar people couldn’t tell the German fighters where the bombers were. Yep, didn’t want those bad boys finding them.
Did you know that better than half the black outs during and following the bombing in Germany were caused by rope chaff falling across and shorting to ground power lines which blew transformers?
The same was true for Hanoi. Yep, we ECM weenies have been screwing things up for the enemy since WWII…and enjoying it.
If that was the reason, would they be wrong? Couldn’t the counter-point to this be that the US made major developments during the GWOT?
I am of the opinion that there is nothing more in the world that the east want more than pull us into anther middle eastern quagmire.
When you neglect the EW realm and your adversary doesn’t it makes it harder to operate. This is not a surprise to anyone that pays attention to this type of thing. It is too late now. Should have spent more time on EW preparing for a near peer conflict.
The development environment works both ways and has since electronic countermeasures started during WWII. it’s always been a moving target. As soon as you used a technique the other guy will find a way to get around it. Sometimes it’s smart to leave some of the good stuff locked up until there is a critical need.