Navy Growler EW Jet Breaks Through With New  Multi-Frequency”Jamming” Technology

by Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

(Washington D.C.) Several years ago, former Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert made the interesting and impactful statement that “whoever controls the electromagnetic spectrum” will prevail in future wars.

US Navy EA-G Growler & EW Technology

This statement resonated across the service and, to a certain extent, anticipated the fast-growing Pentagon emphasis upon EW. The US Navy EA-G Growler EW aircraft for example, has not only been critical for decades but is now breakthrough to new dimensions of tactical significance, given the rapid maturation of EW technology and its ability to impact combat.

For many years, EW weapons have been able to find a “line of bearing” and identify enemy communications signals, radar, and even some electronic guidance. Passive EW can search for signals without emitting a signature and giving away its location, whereas active EW weapons can effectively “jam” or disable enemy electronics. It takes little imagination to see how impactful this can be in combat, as “blinding” enemy communications and weapons guidance systems could certainly determine the outcome in warfare. 

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More recent applications of EW have been rapidly merging with cyber operations and even AI-empowered computer systems. Advanced EW can now accomplish several key things such as identify signals and actually “deconflict” the spectrum to a certain extent, distinguish friendly from hostile signatures and even specify which kinds of signals they are. Antenna technology has also evolved such that it can increasingly be omni directional and tailor its signature to specific areas and not emit a more detectable 360-degree signal for enemies to detect. 

Part of the intent, especially for offensive EW weapons, is to emit a more streamlined, precise signal which can be more impactful but also emit a much smaller and less detectable signature. EW can also include “frequency hopping” wherein weapons guidance systems can, for example, hop from one frequency to another to essentially stay on track to a target and essentially “counter” enemy countermeasures and keep a weapon on track to its target.