EW SUPPORT FOR JOINT OPERATIONS IN DEFENCE
“If there is a world war III, the winner will be the side
that can best control and manage the electromagnetic spectrum”
I. OVERVIEW OF EW & ITS ROLE IN
MILITARY OPERATIONS
1. The
electromagnetic (EM) spectrum has increasingly emerged as the invisible weapon
in war. Those who have learnt to exploit and appreciate its strengths and
weaknesses have always emerged victors. Little did the pioneers of the radio
beams know the effect these invisible weapons would have in future conflicts.
Formidable as they are, the military use of the electromagnetic spectrum is a
“necessary evil” much like friction and gravity, at times, unwanted, but one
cannot actually do without them. Electronic warfare (EW) is the control of the
EM spectrum which implies unhindered use by friendly forces and, at the same
time, denial of its use by the adversaries.
2. EW
is employed to support military operations involving various levels of control,
detection, denial, deception, disruption, degradation, protection and
destruction. EW as a part of IW can further affect the operational environment
by influencing the adversary leaders and population. As the reliance on
electronic system has increased, so has the vulnerability in the event of
system disruption. EW is vital in all phases i.e. shape, deter, seize
initiative, dominate, stabilize and enable civil authority phases of an
operation or campaign. During the shape and deter phases, ES (or ESM) assets
contribute to the overall understanding of the battlefield. A judicious
commander may employ EW to implement favorable intelligence preparation of the
operational environment without prematurely crossing the threshold to conflict.
3. The
potential to employ non-destructive and no lethal capabilities make EW assets
vital to the preparation of the operational environment. Using EW, joint forces
may set the conditions for combat when imminent, and prosecute the attack once
combat is underway. The ability to achieve an objective through non-destructive
means may allow a more rapid transition from seizing the initiative and the
dominant phase to support operations in the stabilization phase. From
stabilization to enabling civil authority, EW can foster restorative operations
by offering options such as force protection through ES to monitor subversive
elements, or EA to counter RCIEDs, or broadcasting selected psychological operations
(PSYOP) or civil defence messages to assist civil authorities.
4. Level of offensive EW offensive EW may be conducted at all levels
of war strategic, operational and tactical. The level of war at which offensive
is conducted would be determined by the mission, the availability of resources
and prevailing circumstances.
a) Strategic level
offensive EW Offensive
EW at strategic level will be planned and directed by HQ IDS in concert with
the respective Service Headquarters. The execution of strategic level offensive
EW would require coordination at all levels and with other two Services to ensure
unity of effort and take in account the overall directive specified by the
Government. The aim of strategic level EW would be:-
i) Target adversary’s war waging
capabilities and neutralize strategic targets with devastating social, economic
and political implications, not necessarily causing physical damage or loss to
lives normally associated with conventional wars.
ii) Paralyse adversary’s ability to conduct
operations as he would be effectively denied battlefield
transparency/information superiority.
b) Operations
Level Offensive EW At
the operational level, Offensive EW will involve the use of EW systems to
degrade/destroy adversary’s capabilities to deter him from conducting hostile
operations. The Service Headquarters may task subordinate Headquarters to conduct
operational level offensive EW and provide resources both for planning and
execution as required.
c) Tactical
Level Offensive IW Primary
focus of the offensive EW at tactical level would be to deny, disrupt, and
destroy adversary’s use of information systems command and control targets
through electronic warfare.
5. Defensive
EW. This EW comprise of
actions and measures taken to ensure unrestricted use of Electro-Magnetic
spectrum and effective use of weapons, sensors, communication systems and such other
electronic systems against the offensive EW by the adversary. It also implies
the protection of own communication and non-communication EW infrastructure
form an adversary EW activity.
Army EW
Organisation
6. Organisation
at Army HQ/ Command HQ PMO
SURAJ (IW Sys & Sp) and functions directly under ADG MO (IW) in MO
Directorate at Army HQ. Its duties include GS functions related to procurement
of equipment and maintenance support for EW equipment (both Comn and Non-Comn)
and advice on employment of EW/IW resources, formulation of EW/IW policies,
conduct of EW/IW training. Coordination of EMI/ EMC aspects in Army is done by
DG Signals at Army HQ level and by Signals staff at various formation HQ
levels. The planning for EW operations at command level is responsibility of
BGS (IW) who functions directly under MGGS of the Command HQ. At Corps level it
is the responsibility of Col GS (EW) working directly under BGS (Ops) of the
Corps HQ.
7. Signal
Groups The signal Groups
are the field formations for planning and carrying out EW operations in a Corps
Zone. They are composed of Field Sub Groups, which carry out the EW operations.
Naval EW
Organisation
8. EW
Organisation at Naval HQ/ Command HQ The
Directorate of Naval Signals at Naval HQ is responsible for EW policies, plans
procurement and training. The Directorate also coordinates all tri-service EW
requirements and EW issues in concert with HQ IDS. The Command Communication
Officer (CCO), assisted by staff Officer (EW) coordinates Command planning of
EW activities in the Command Headquarters.
9. EW
Organisation in the Fleets The
Fleet Operations Officer (FOO), assisted by the Fleet Electronic Warfare (FEWO)
is overall responsible for control of EW within the force at sea. The FEWO is a
qualified Communication Officer, on the operational staff of the Fleet
Commander & is specially appointed to be responsible to be Fleet Commander
/ OTC through the FOO for all aspects of Electronic Warfare in the force. He
works under the guidance of the Fleet Commander / OTC who nominates the
Electronic Warfare Control Ship (EWCS). The EWCS is the ship from which the EW
organization of the force is controlled.
10. EW
Organisation in Ships The
overall responsibility of implementing the EW policy directives of the Fleet
Commander / OTC rests with the Commanding Officer. The Signal Communication
Officer / EW Officer (where appointed) is responsible to Commanding Officer for
the conduct, control and coordination of all EW oriented activities on board a
ship. The responsibility of the Ops room Officer (ORD), Officer of the Watch
(OOW) and the departmental officers in the chain of implementing EW directives
are central to the theme and are all encompassing.
Air Force EW Organisation
11. EW
Organisation at Air HQ / Command HQ The
Dte of Ops (IEW) at Air HQ issues policies in respect of Information & EW
(IEW), formulation of IEW doctrines and tactics, preparation of electronic
deception and cover plans, planning of IEW exercises, reviewing op deployment,
training and preparedness of EW units, formulation of ELINT policy of IAF,
analysis of SIGINT data and updating of EORBAT. In addition, the Dte deals with
procurement of EW equipment and formulation of ELINT policy of IAF, analysis of
SIGINT data and updating of EORBAT. In addition, the Dte deals with procurement
of EW equipment and formulation of Service Qualitative Requirements. The Dte
reports to the VCAS through DG Air (Ops) & through ACAS Ops (Space). The
Dte exercises functional control over the ELINT resources of IAF (ground based
and airborne both), formulation and revision of computer security policies,
functional control of CERT and conduct of offensive and defensive IW
activities.
12. EW
Organisation at Air HQ/ Command HQ. At
the Command HQ level the EW operations are planned and coordinated by Command
Information & EW officer (CIEWO) who functions under the Command Senior Air
Staff Officer (SASO). At Wing HQ level the EW operations are planned and
coordinated by Information and EW officer (IEWO) who functions under the Chief
Operations Officer (COO).
IV. JOINT
SERVICES EW ORGANISATIONS
13. Joint
Electronic Warfare Board (JEWB) The
JEWB is an apex body on EW in the three services, chaired by the CISC. The
broad charter of duties of the JEWB is as follows:-
(a) Enhance
the capability of the three Services and the techniques employed in the
Electronic Warfare.
(b) Draw
the joint EW policy in keeping with the COSC directions. The EW planning of the
Services should be based on the above policy issued by the JEWB .
(c) Evaluate
and update joint EW threat based on inputs from respective Service HQ and
various intelligence agencies.
14. Command
Communications Electronics Coordination Committees (CCECCs) At the Command level (based on
geographical jurisdiction of Army Commands) are committees called CCECCs
dealing with joint-aspect of communication, EW, and related matters. CCECC of
each Command are required to meet once a year. Proceedings/ minutes of their
meetings are received by JCES through respective Service HQ.
V. PLANNING
AND COORDINATION FOR JOINT ELECTRONIC WARFARE
15. General
Through careful planning,
EW must be fully integrated with other aspects of joint operations in order to
achieve its full potential for contributing to an operation’s objectives. It is
important that EW planners have a fair understanding of the overall operations,
so that they appreciate the negative impacts of EW on own systems. Since the
Services provide most EW assets available in joint operations, Service
component EW planners must be integrated into the joint planning process. The
complexity and range of enemy’s information infrastructure increases the
difficulty of completely destroying enemy’s Command and Control capabilities
through any single attack. Thus effective integration and synchronization of
all resources is necessary to achieve maximum results when launching EW
operations.
16. In order to be effective, all EW
activities conducted in joint operations should be planned and managed by
personnel dedicated to EW and EM spectrum management. The personnel on these
staff appointments must participate in and coordinate with the IO cell, which
will align objective priorities and synchronize EW employment with other IO
related capabilities and operations. Due to the intricate nature and complexity
of EW operations in support of joint Operations and due to the overlap in the
sphere of activities of the three services, certain aspects need to be adhered
to which are as listed below:-
(a) Dynamic
Allocation of EW Resources Due to
the fluid nature of modern wars and all
EW assets of the armed forces should be treated as a common pool of sensor
platforms to be allocated on as required basis, to each of the three armed
forces to ensure optimum & coordinated employment.
(b) Extended
Reach and Synergised Application The
EW assets of one service can be used by the other service to extend the reach
of EW operations. This synergy in application, besides extending the reach,
will also facilitate utilization of the EW data base of the other two sister
services, thus avoiding duplication of effort.
(c) Optimisation of Resources. EW being a highly specialised Niche field,
there are spheres of excellence in the private sector/ PSUs which could be
considered to be tapped, instead of
reinventing the wheel, thus saving precious time and resources. This approach
needs to be adopted to get better bang for the buck as there will always be a
shortfall between the expectations and the availability of assets.
(d) Sharing of Intelligence. Due to the inherent overlap in the sphere
of operations of the three services, ( more to some extent in the case of Army
and Air Force), there is a need to share the intelligence gathered to avoid duplication of resources , time and
effort involved in addressing the same target.
(e) Division of the area of Responsibility/
Targets . each of the three
services has a certain domain expertise as regards the frequency bands to be used / monitored /
targeted (for example the navy uses
VLF frequency band which is not used by the other two services and so on ) and
thus the complete EM spectrum should be accordingly apportioned to the
respective service for exploitation
during times of hostilities, with parallel sharing of intelligence to
facilitate synergy in operations.
(f) Uniformity of Equipment and
Standerdisation. Procedures
need to be put in place that an equipment that has been developed for one
service and has applications in the other service, must be introduced in the
latter service and minor modifications/ adjustments be made to suit the needs
of the second service, instead of developing a completely new system , abinitio
for the second service. This will go a long way in:-
(i) Minimising
the equipment inventory levels.
(ii) Ensuring
economy in use of resources.
(iii)
Foster synergy of operations.
(iv)
Expedite the R&D process involved in
induction of EW equipment by reducing the equipment induction life cycles.
(g) Combination
of Feasibility Studies. Each
feasibility study for induction of new EW equipment takes a
minimum of two years to be complete. There is a need to involve reps of all the
three services in such feasibility studies from inception stage itself, in order to hasten up the process of equipment induction
(h) Common
Task Allocation Body/ Group. In
order to usher in meaningful synergy in EW operations there is a need to put in
place a common Command and Control structure which will facilitate common
modalities of task allocation to the EW components of each service, based on
their domain expertise and core competence.
(j) EW Support for Suppression of Enemy Air Defences
(SEAD) SEAD missions are of
critical importance to the success of any joint operation when control of the
air is contested by an adversary. SEAD relies on a variety of EW platforms to
conduct Electronic Warfare Support (ES) and Electronic Attack (EA) in support,
and EW planners should coordinate closely with joint and component air planners
to ensure that EW support to SEAD missions is integrated into the overall EW
plan.
(k) EW
Reprogramming The purpose
of EW reprogramming is to maintain or enhance the effectiveness of EW and
target Sensing System Equipment. EW reprogramming includes changes to
self-defence systems, offensive weapons systems, ES, and intelligence
collection systems. EW reprogramming is the responsibility of each Service or organisation
through its respective EW reprogramming support programs.
(l) Electronic Masking Electronic Masking is the control radiation of
electromagnetic energy on friendly frequencies in a manner to protect the
emissions of friendly communications and electronic systems against enemy
Electronic Warfare Support Measures/ Signals Intelligence without significantly
degrading the operation of friendly systems.
(m) Interoperability Interoperability
is essential in order to use EW effectively as an element of Joint Military
Power. The same will be possible only when the three services have systems,
structures and data dictionary which can talk to each other for sharing of
information and thus provide synergy of effort.
(n) Unintended Consequences EW planners must consider unintended consequences of EW
operations. Friendly EA could potentially deny essential services to a local
population which in turn could result in loss of life and/or political
ramifications.
(o) Meteorology and Oceanography EW planners must consider the effects
of atmospherics and space weather on available EW systems, both friendly and enemy. The various types of
atmospheric conditions and phenomena can positively or negatively affect EW
systems.
17. EW planning, which is a EW planning is a deliberate process and must be incorporated in the
operational planning at strategic, operational and tactical levels. The complexity and range of enemy’s
information infrastructure increases the difficulty of completely destroying
enemy’s Command and Control capabilities through any single attack, or by any one agency alone. Thus effective integration and synchronisation of all resources, of all the three services, is necessary to
achieve maximum results when launching EW operations. This should be the bedrock
of the philosophy on employment of EW resources and for conduct of EW
operations in a joint operations scenario.
18.
EW Planning
Development of the EW plan requires consideration of a number of diverse
factors about the proposed operations. Some of these planning factors include
the following:-
(a) Requirements for friendly communications nets, EM navigation
systems, and radar. These requirements
should be considered with respect to the anticipated operations, tactical
threat expected, and EM interference considerations.
(b) Identification of COMSEC and electronic security measures
necessary to deny OPSEC indicators to enemy passive-EM sensors.
(c) Determination of what prior coordination and precautions
would be necessary conducting Electronic Attack in order to ensure continued
effective Electronic Support.
Coordination and identification of specific resources required for
de-conflicting interference.
(d) Determination of Commander’s Critical Information Requirements
(CCIRs) that support commanders and EW operations. These CCIRs must be included in the OPLAN to
facilitate generation of Electronic Support.
(e) Coordination and establishment of procedures to ensure timely
fulfilment, including real-time dissemination.
(f) Review of ROE and applicable law to determine what
authorities are needed or what restrictions (if any) apply to EW operations.
19. EW Planning Process & Allocation of Resources to
Task It involves four basic
steps of Task Analysis, Allocation of Resources to tasks, Execution &
Monitoring and Ree3dback. The
identification of means to assess the target, opportunities available and the
means to exploit these vulnerabilities are the guiding factors which determine
the allocation of tasks to the available resources.
20. At the Tri services level, a dedicated organisation has not
been earmarked for conduct of EW operations though certain organisations like
the JEWB and CCECCs to coordinate the aspects of EW Planning and equipment
procurement. The Dte of JCES, under
DCIDS (Ops) / HQ IDS can be mandated to formulate policy and coordinate the
conduct of EW ops in a Joint Ops Scenario.
Additional aspects that need consideration are as given in subsequent
paragraphs.
21. Electronic Warfare Planning Aids. There are a number of automated planning
tools available to help joint EW planners carry out their
responsibilities. These tools can be
divided into three broad categories; databases, planning process aids, and
spatial and propagation modelling tools.
(a) Databases.
Automated databases can assist EW planners by providing easy access to a
wide variety of platform-specific technical data used in assessing the EW
threat and planning appropriate friendly responses to that threat. This will go a long way in preventing Fratricide. However, planners should keep several
considerations in mind when relying on automated data like:-
(i) The size of databases available to military planners and
agency responsible for maintaining the same viz Services, various intelligence
community agencies, other MOD organisations and allied organisations.
(ii) The level of detail, specific fields, and frequency of update
and the way that data is organised into fields in a database.
(iii) The sources of data being used for planning and the use of the
E-Space portal as the common database source.
(b) Planning Process Aids. There are several automated aids available
that assist in the planning process and other under development. These include automated frequency management
tools, and others that assist with the integration of different elements and
activities of IO. Use of automated tools
to integrate different elements of IO will be normally be determined by the IO
officer. EQ Planners should ensure that
any EW planning input developed separately from such systems are created in a
format that is compatible (electronically transferable) to designated planning
tools. EW planning input from
subordinate and supporting commands should specify the desired format.
(c) Spatial and Propagation Modelling Tools. Geographic Information Systems enable
analysis and display of geographically referenced information. These spatial modelling tools can, for
example, enhance targeting and facilitate trends analysis. The use of propagation modelling tools that
graphically display transmission paths of such energy have tools greatly depend
on the accuracy of the data provided to the tool and the sophistication of the
software and hardware used to manipulate the data.
22. Coordinating Joint Electronic Warfare. A certain amount of coordination is part of
the planning process. However, once a
plan has been approved and an operation is commenced, the preponderance of EW
staff effort shifts to the coordination necessary to ensure that EW actions are
carried out as planned or modified to respond to the dynamics of the
operation. Areas of concern that
normally require continual monitoring on the part of EW staff personnel include
EW asset allocation, EMS management, and emerging operational issues that
require modifications to plans or procedures.
Normally, this monitoring is performed by personnel on watch in the
individual service EW Operations Centre (EWOC).
Such watch personnel, stationed at an EW watch station, normally are
tasked to alert other EW or staff personnel to carry out specific coordinating
actions in response to emerging requirements.
23. EW operations require early integration between components,
groups, organisations and agencies involved in the planning and execution. The existing nodal agency (CCECC) would
provide a forum for this and JCES under HQ IDS would take on from there. EW de-confliction should begin at the
earliest possible stage or EW planning and must be a continuous process, which
allows flexible phasing of EW employment options. The nodal agency would be responsible for
coordinating and overseeing EW de-confliction.
The details of operational procedures and processes should be formulated
separately as a Joint EW Operations Manual, once concurrence of all the
services has been obtained in this regard.
24. The war front, in the conventional sense, is no longer scattered. Therefore,
the essential factor for success in the future lies in the ability to provide
secure links between the soldier and the ability to increase the information
gap between own forces and the adversary. The advantage in the next generation
war/conflict, which is likely to be a series of short and intense Joint Ops
Campaigns, will go to that side which is able to effectively manage its Electronic
Spectrum to facilitate the conduct of EW Ops.