Light Electronic Warfare Teams, Who and What are We?

[Kirkhill]

Army embarking on electronic warfare data pilot to help inform rapid reprogramming

The pilot will help the Army understand and implement EW data needs to support the rapid reprogramming of modular mission payloads, necessary to enable the future approach to electronic warfare effects on the battlefield.

defensescoop.com

“We’re learning that the EW landscape is changing everywhere between three weeks and three months, and so that we need to be more flexible in our approach … The battlefield is changing really, really rapidly,” Gen. Randy George, chief of staff of the Army, said during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee in April.

As a result, the force must become more agile.

Over the last several months, George has discussed an emerging concept dubbed transforming in contact, in which the Army plans to use deployments and troop rotations to test new equipment — mainly commercial off-the-shelf gear — to allow units to be more responsive on a dynamic battlefield.

Within the concept, there are three areas where George says the Army needs to be faster and more adaptable when it comes to delivering equipment to forces, due to how dynamic the threat environment is and the cat-and-mouse aspect of countering moves: unmanned aerial systems, counter-UAS and electronic warfare.

What has been less clear in recent months is the extent to which the Army will have reprogrammers at the tactical edge to make these adjustments in near real-time.