Soldiers May Soon Attack With Tiny Electronic Warfare Weapon to “Jam” Enemy Weapons

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

(Washington D.C.) A small, fast, dismounted Special Operations Reconnaissance team conducting a clandestine scouting or surveillance mission in high risk territory behind enemy lines requires long-range, high-fidelity sensors which, more than almost anything else, need to be small, compact and lightweight. Not only that, but they need to increasingly use computer automation and programming to perform a greater range of sensing and data analysis functions without requiring as much human intervention.

Special Operations Teams

Perhaps a soldier or SOF member could discern enemy communications systems, deconflict elements of the spectrum and isolate a high-interest threat signal using a wrist-worn watch-EW sensor. In this case, a small, dismounted unit might be able to quietly, yet efficiently find and “jam” enemy radios without giving away its location. A EW sensor can do this and, when enabled by AI and high-speed computing, some of them can deconflict different frequencies in the spectrum and isolate or identify critical threats. More broadly, such a sensor can operate as a forward point of data collection in support of an integrated, larger ISR operation.

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One industry innovator is a small firm called Boldend who has partnered with MAG Aerospace to test cutting edge software and hardware technologies designed to perform critical computing, sensing and data collection functions in a much smaller form factor.

ISR Platforms

“ISR platforms are typically outfitted with very sophisticated systems that vary in size, weight, and power as well as, the addition of a highly talented sensor operator, that may not be feasible for ground force use. Boldend has combined systems and sensor operators into code to affect a much wider space on the battlefield. We do this through operator input on design and commercial software development best practices to deliver products with minimal size, weight, and power without the need for human input during a mission. Imagine if every operator was a sensor.” Jon Steinbach, Boldened, told Warrior in an interview.

This small form-factor sensing is enabled by computer innovations which streamline data-collection and analysis functionality without needing to rely upon a large operating system. A small cyber company called Boldend is pioneering this kind of application, using microcontrollers on a board that performs most of the functions of the devices that are plugged into it. Described by developers as a tiny chip that goes on a board, microcontrollers can increase speed while reducing errors and reliability risks. With this, otherwise disparate ISR functions or streams of incoming data can be integrated and analyzed in relation to one another in support of mission objectives.