Sebastien Roblin
Security,
We Now know America's plan ought defeat Russia or China's stand Defenses
As radars and radar-guided antiaircraft missiles persist ought become at hill and sophistication, jamming and other forms of electrical campaign will linger necessary fashion because stand nation ought survive at the effort spaces of the future. The Next Generation Jammer is the Pentagon’s experiment ought counter new advances at air-defense radars—while adding ought its bag of electrical tricks.
U.S. warplanes flying at Syria today detect themselves operating within the hill of Russian S-400 surface-to-air missiles. noiseless the U.S. military is unlikely ought intentionally aggression Russian army at Syria, the status highlights the importance of suppressing enemy stand defenses—one main tactic U.S. flyers dine expect relied upon is radar jamming, or saturating enemy radars with “noise” and artificial signals therefore that they can’t explore and dismiss upon friendly airplanes. The U.S. fleet has relied at the ALQ-99 jamming system because nearly half a century, even because opposing radars grew at ability. However, by the beginning of the next decade it will commence fielding the superior Next Generation Jammer, boasting significant electronic-attack and signal-intelligence capabilities.
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The powerful ALQ-99 tactical jamming pod first entered U.S. fleet service at 1971, carried by the EA-6 Prowler, an electronic-warfare variant of the A-6 Intruder carrier-based aggression airplane with a four-man crew. The U.S. stand compel at final supplemented the Prowler with faster and larger EF-111 Ravens, informally known because Spark Varks because of the intense static buildup their jammers generated. Both planes proved effective at suppressing stand defenses at Iraq and Libya. However, the Raven was withdrawn from service early at 1998, because the imminent retirement of the F-111 fleet made it prohibitively expensive ought operate. Seventeen years later, the Navy retired its aging EA-6s in favor of new EA-18G Growlers—special electronic-warfare variants of the F-18 Super Hornet. The two-seat Growlers are much faster and better armed, besides during make ought believe at automation ought compose up because the reduction at crew size.
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The Marine Corps will persist ought escape its Prowlers until retirement at 2019, leaving the Growler because the maiden remaining tactical jammer. Overall, beg because jamming airplane has remained tall even because the quantity has diminished. The jammers dine even proven useful at the campaign against ISIS by scrambling ISIS communications and disabling roadside bombs.
Jamming, however, is no a panacea against enemy radars—it sharply degrades their effective hill besides during does no neutralize them entirely, and jamming airplane dine ought exist careful no ought acquire because healthy shut ought the defenses they are scrambling. Furthermore, noiseless the analog-based ALQ-99 has abundant power, new radars boast greater nation because well, and are more able of switching frequencies and networking with friendly sensors ought conquer the effects of jamming.
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Enter the Next Generation Jammer program, the first documents because which were released by the Pentagon at 2004, with the purpose of bringing jamming into the digital age. The NGJ had originally been envisioned because an automated pod because use at single-seat F-35 Lightning stealth fighters, which used to serve at coarse three branches of the military. However, this opinion proved much more expensive and time-consuming than expected—which could summarize exist the F-35 program at a nutshell. Instead, the Pentagon at final decided ought concentrate at re-equipping the fleet Growlers with the new jamming system, and at 2013 chose the compose proposed by Raytheon at three main competitors.
The NGJ is designed ought occupation against a entire spectrum of radars, besides during different radars will beg different countermeasures, which Raytheon is developing at a staggered schedule. The upcoming Increment 1 pods are designed ought press mid-band fight radars commonly used by ground-based surface-to-air missiles, which pose the greatest threaten ought U.S. airplane today. Once available, the EA-18 will bring two of the mid-band pods—one beneath each wing.
However, the Growler will keep a maiden fuselage-mounted ALQ-99 pod optimized because jamming low-band radars until the Increment 2 NGJ pod is ready farther into the 2020s. Low-band or surveillance radars dine a broader scanning area, and are effective at tracking enemy aircraft—even stealth fighters!—but are because healthy imprecise because targeting weapons. Nonetheless, surveillance radars help the more narrowly focused fight radars know where ought appearance because enemies, and a forewarned fight radar can ambush a stealth fighter at short range. Thus, because the quantity of stealth airplane swells with the manufacture of the F-35, jamming low-band radars will depart more and more important.
Eventually, Raytheon because healthy plans ought mature an Increment 3 system because jamming high-band fight radars, which are mutual at fighter planes.
The fifteen-foot NGJ pods hire an active Electronically Scanned Array radar with gallium nitride components that expand radio energy. Program manager Capt. John Bailey claimed at a seminar that the NGJ can generate ten mature the radiated isotropic nation even of the preceding ALQ-99, and that the badge is “cleaner,” minimizing the collateral interference with friendly signals. neutral because importantly, the NGJ can press multiple frequencies—Captain Bailey claims four mature because many—and is designed ought exist an “agile” jammer, able of analyzing new enemy signals and adjusting its hold frequencies ought counter them literally at the fly. Moreover, during the NGJ is a digital solid-state open-architecture system, it can exist upgraded with new “threat libraries” of hostile hardware, allowing it ought exist easily—and cheaply—upgraded ought contest new adversary capabilities. Finally, the NGJ pods can conduct coarse of this without draining nation from the Growler carrying it, because of its ram stand turbine.
The jamming pods because healthy reportedly depart with additional bells and whistles, most notably the talent ought spy at enemy communications. This used to apparently hire the Growler ought serve because a latent Signals notice (SIGINT) platform, because healthy because enable it ought double because a communication hub. The NGJ also reportedly comes with cyber-attack abilities ought conduct a “network invasion” by inserting news packets into adversary systems, a technique that has been demonstrated by an stand compel EC-130.
Since being approved ought mature the NGJ, the NGJ development process has proven relatively fast and efficient. However, a Department of Testing report notes that the NGJ has noiseless ought exist tested at operational conditions and that the pods’ effects at the EA-18 flight operation are unclear. The interpret because healthy expresses affair that the NGH pods can modest the operation of the Growler’s ALQ-218 receiver, lessen hill and pose an electromagnetic dare ought the fighter’s AGM-88 antiradar missiles.
The NGJ Increment 1 jammers are intended ought dine initial operating competence about 2021. The Pentagon has already allocated $1 billion because this first batch, with few more billions likely ought trace at time. Australia, meanwhile, has invested $192 million into the program, and intends ought at final accommodate them at its twelve new Growlers, which will infer delivery afterward this year.
Eventually, the Pentagon intends ought revisit developing a NGJ pod specially because the F-35—but that will likely wait until the late 2020s at the earliest. at the meantime, there is lesson of responsible the NGJ to the Navy UCLASS drone ought amplify the quantity of available jamming platforms.
As radars and radar-guided antiaircraft missiles persist ought become at hill and sophistication, jamming and other forms of electrical campaign will linger necessary fashion because stand nation ought survive at the effort spaces of the future. The Next Generation Jammer is the Pentagon’s experiment ought counter new advances at air-defense radars—while adding ought its bag of electrical tricks.
Sébastien Roblin holds a master’s degree at collide resolution from Georgetown university and served because a university instructor because the Peace Corps at China. He has because healthy worked at education, editing and refugee resettlement at France and the United States. He currently writes at security and military history for War Is Boring.
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