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The report concludes with an assessment of the barriers DoD faces in implementing a new approach to EMS warfare and recommends a series of actions to overcome these barriers and allow the U.S. military to once again own the airwaves
The implementation of the distributed fleet will require regaining the advantage in the electromagnetic spectrum. Otherwise, unmanned systems and dispersed assets may be more of a liability than benefit. The U.S. military does not have a great track record in developing distributed systems. The Army’s Distributed Common Ground System has long been criticized as a very expensive yet ineffective system. In 2015, a report released by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments argued that the Navy did not have the operational guidance to use its newest electromagnetic technologies to the greatest effect.
The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments says the technology is 'one of the most critical operational domains in modern warfare.' However, it concluded 'unfortunately, 'failed to keep pace' is an appropriate description of the Department of Defense's (DoD) investments in EMS warfare capabilities over the last generation.' The report, 'Winning the Airwaves: Regaining America's Dominance in the Electromagnetic Spectrum', added the technology will become as revolutionary as smartphones. 'In the same way that smartphones and the Internet are redefining how the world shares, shops, learns, and works, the development and fielding of advanced sensors and networking technologies will enable militaries to gain significant new advantages over competitors that fail to keep pace,' it says.
“We’re firing very expensive weapons at what is really an inexpensive weapons system,” Haynes said. “That’s going to get pretty costly.”
Bryan Clark, a naval analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said Sunday's event was "very significant."
So far, so good. The U.S. military has a long history of absorbing new technology, but struggles to adapt its organizational constructs for the best application of that technology. One of the areas Deputy Secretary Work discussed at the Air Force Association was the military’s lack of focus on electromagnetic warfare.
In contrast to traditional systems designed to operate in a narrow range of frequencies against known threats, “SEWIP Block 3 brings active electronic attack across a wider frequency range…with digital processing that will facilitate new ‘intelligent’ EW processing that will enable the system to react to signals it has never seen before,” said retired Navy commander Bryan Clark, now with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. “SEWIP Block 3’s AESA array enables it to be a passive sensor, communication array, or a radar,” he added. “It could also confuse or obscure aircraft and ship radars” as part of the Navy’s new “electromagnetic maneuver warfare” concept.
