Less than a year after commencing technology development of a new airborne jamming system for the U.S. Navy, Raytheon RTN +0.4% has proven the potential of its design in flights above California’s Mojave Desert. In a series of October flights at the Navy’s China Lake test range, the jammer performed flawlessly against threats mimicking the features of advanced Russian and Chinese radars.
This was the first time a fully integrated version of the jammer has been tested in airborne configuration, generating its electrical power from air rushing past the host plane. Navy testers gave it their highest ratings.
(Disclosure: Raytheon contributes to my think tank.)
The program is officially designated the Next Generation Jammer, but calling it a “jammer” is a like calling the Tesla a car. It is the leading edge of a revolution in information warfare the will witness the convergence of electronic countermeasures, cyber operations and signals intelligence in an integrated suite of technologies aimed at mastering the electromagnetic spectrum “from direct current to light,” as Raytheon executive Rick Yuse puts it. In other words, the Next Generation Jammer advances the day when all of the frequencies on the spectrum currently used for communication and sensing will be subject to management and manipulation by U.S. warfighters. If ever there was an example of high-leverage innovation in military technology, this is it.
The Navy’s most immediate need is for a compact, versatile new jammer that can replace its increasingly obsolete Cold War electronic-warfare pods in the mid-range of operating frequencies. The service won’t say precisely what wavelengths that encompasses, but it is the most densely-used part of the spectrum where most air defenses and tactical communications systems function. It is also a common frequency range for the devices that jihadists employ to trigger improvised explosive devices. So when the Next Generation Jammer joins the fleet aboard the Navy’s carrier-based EA-18G electronic-attack plane in 2020, it will be able to provide protection for both forces in the air and troops on the ground.
The basic purpose of jammers is to defeat hostile emitters like radars and radio by flooding the frequencies in which they operate with energy so that enemies cannot collect or transmit information. That requires being able to precisely identify the relevant frequencies and then generate sufficient local energy to prevent their use — not an easy task when adversaries may be operating in dozens of discrete wavelengths using frequency-hopping and other techniques to evade countermeasures. The Navy’s existing jammer, which was designed in the era of vacuum tubes, is gradually being overwhelmed by all the options available to enemies.
The Navy’s EA-18G Growler built by Boeing will likely be the joint force’s primary electronic-warfare plane through mid-century; note jamming pods on the fuselage centerline and both wings. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
Recognizing the danger, the Navy conducted an analysis of alternatives a decade ago and determined it needed a new jammer with far greater radiated power and spectral precision. A key feature of the new jammer would be “active electronically scanned arrays” — meaning transmitters that direct their jamming signals by shifting phase electronically rather than being mechanically moved. Moving parts tend to wear out, and can’t deliver the agility of electronically-scanned systems. The Next Generation Jammer will be able to defeat diverse threats simultaneously with sufficient accuracy so that it does not disrupt friendly signals on adjacent frequencies (such as GPS signals). It will be more efficient, more reliable, and more maintainable.
These features will be especially useful in helping the joint force to defeat the anti-access/area-denial strategies of countries like China. The Navy must be able to defeat enemy air defenses and communications if it is to assure access to all the world’s littoral regions, and using “non-kinetic” tactics such as jamming is less provocative than dropping bombs. The inherent flexibility of the jammer’s software-intensive design and open systems architecture will facilitate adapting to new threats as they emerge during a period of unprecedented technological ferment. As Rick Yuse, who heads the Raytheon business unit that produces the jammer and other airborne electronic systems, told Aviation Week & Space Technology earlier this year, “we can’t bend new metal every time the threat changes,” so growth potential had to be built into the system.
Loren Thompson Contributor
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