Russia-Ukraine lessons to boost US electronic warfare, Sen. Reed says

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee wants to reimagine how the U.S. military fights, including across the electromagnetic spectrum, and is looking to Ukraine for clues.

“We are in a tremendously dynamic situation, where technology is changing rapidly, techniques are changing rapidly,” Sen. Jack Reed , a Rhode Island Democrat, said Feb. 7 at a Defense Writers Group event. “We are truly multidimensional.”

The recent, notable shifts, Reed said, include the Department of Defense’s growing emphasis on space and its investment in electronic warfare, which can be employed to find and fool adversaries and, on the flip side, fend off foreign attempts to do the same.

“How do we operate? All of that has to be reimagined and integrated,” he said. “And the experience in Ukraine is giving us insights for this transformation.”

Electronic warfare is a fight for control of the spectrum, which is used for communications, weapons guidance and situational awareness. While the invisible struggle lacks the spectacle of tanks tearing through town or bombs busting bunkers, the techniques are critical, U.S. military and industry leaders say, as battlefields teem with high-tech, software-first systems.

In the Russia-Ukraine war, now approaching the one-year mark, forces are jumbling communications , jamming GPS signals and more. At least one Ukranian defense official has described the embattled Eastern European country as a “testing ground.”

The U.S. is taking note, according to Reed, who advocated during the Tuesday event for “equipment that is capable of operating effectively” while remaining “ahead of the competition.” The contest for spectrum dominance in a conflict involving the U.S., China or Russia is expected to be intense.

“I think the most adaptable is the field of electronic warfare ,” Reed said. “And the innovation that they’re seeing taking place, some of it spontaneously, on the part of the Ukrainians — just doing some ingenious things, because desperate times require desperate need. They’re doing it.”

The U.S. Army, specifically, is trying to reinvigorate its electronic warfare armory after decades of decay. The service in 2022 awarded multimillion-dollar contracts to Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics Missions Systems for what is known as the Terrestrial Layer System, which will provide soldiers a bloc of electronic warfare, cyber and signals intelligence capabilities.

And the Air Force, as of late last year, is organizing a “sprint” to assess where it stands and how it can improve , according to Lt. Gen. Leah Lauderback, the deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and cyber effects operations.

“You might see this turn into another operational imperative, like a year from now, or something of that nature,” Lauderback said at the Air Force Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference. “But it’s something that we do not have a deep bench on, at all.”

Colin Demarest was a reporter at C4ISRNET, where he covered military networks, cyber and IT. Colin had previously covered the Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration — namely Cold War cleanup and nuclear weapons development — for a daily newspaper in South Carolina. Colin is also an award-winning photographer.

华盛顿——参议院军事委员会主席希望重新构想美军的作战方式，包括在整个电磁频谱范围内作战，并正在向乌克兰寻求线索。

“我们正处于一个极其动态的环境中，技术日新月异，方法也瞬息万变，”罗德岛州民主党参议员杰克·里德2月7日在国防作家协会的一次活动上表示。“我们真正身处一个多维环境。”

里德表示，最近值得注意的转变包括国防部日益重视太空以及对电子战的投资，电子战可以用来发现和欺骗对手，反过来，也可以用来抵御外国的类似企图。

“我们如何运作？所有这些都需要重新构想和整合，”他说。“而我们在乌克兰的经验正在为这种转型提供借鉴。”

电子战是争夺频谱控制权的斗争，频谱用于通信、武器制导和态势感知。虽然这场无形的斗争不像坦克横冲直撞或炸弹摧毁碉堡那样引人注目，但美国军方和业界领袖表示，随着战场上充斥着高科技、软件优先的系统，电子战的技术至关重要。

俄乌战争已持续近一年，双方军队仍在干扰通信、拦截GPS信号等。至少有一位乌克兰国防官员将这个饱受战火蹂躏的东欧国家形容为“试验场”。

据里德称，美国已经注意到这一点。他在周二的活动中倡导使用“能够有效运行”且“领先于竞争对手”的设备。预计在涉及美国、中国或俄罗斯的冲突中，频谱控制权的争夺将十分激烈。

里德说：“我认为最具适应性的领域是电子战领域。他们看到的创新，有些是乌克兰人自发产生的——他们只是做了一些巧妙的事情，因为非常时期需要非常手段。他们正在这样做。”

具体而言，美国陆军正试图重振其电子战武器库，此前该领域已衰落数十年。2022年，陆军与洛克希德·马丁公司和通用动力任务系统公司签署了价值数百万美元的合同，用于开发名为“陆地层系统”（Terrestrial Layer System）的装备，该系统将为士兵提供一系列电子战、网络和信号情报能力。

据负责情报、监视、侦察和网络效应行动的副参谋长莉亚·劳德巴克中将称，截至去年年底，空军正在组织一次“冲刺”，以评估其现状以及如何改进。

劳德巴克在空军协会的航空航天网络会议上说：“你可能会看到这在一年后变成另一项作战要务，或者类似的事情。但我们在这方面完全没有充足的人才储备。”

科林·德马雷斯特曾是C4ISRNET的记者，负责报道军事网络、网络安全和信息技术方面的新闻。此前，他曾为南卡罗来纳州的一家日报报道美国能源部及其下属的国家核安全管理局，主要关注冷战后的清理工作和核武器研发。科林还是一位屡获殊荣的摄影师。