Electronic Warfare - The Unseen Battlefield

Summary

This video, created by Covert Cabal, delves into the complex and often clandestine world of electronic warfare (EW). Discussing the use of the electromagnetic spectrum in military applications, the video breaks down EW into key elements: electronic countermeasures (ECM), electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM), and electronic support measures (ESM). With a mix of historical anecdotes and modern-day examples, it explores techniques like jamming, chaff, and decoys, highlighting the ongoing evolution and significance of EW technology as a pivotal aspect of contemporary warfare.

Highlights

• Electronic Warfare is a broad yet highly classified field, focusing on disrupting enemy systems using the electromagnetic spectrum. 🤫
• ECM, ECCM, and ESM are the primary categories of electronic warfare, each with distinct functions and purposes. 📚
• Techniques like jamming and decoys are used to mask or distort information, making it harder for enemies to track and target. 🎭
• The evolution of radar systems and countermeasures necessitates continuous innovation in electronic warfare tactics. 🔍
• Modern conflicts, including examples from Syria and Ukraine, illustrate the tactical significance and challenges of electronic warfare. ⚡
• Electronic warfare's historical contexts, like the Battle of Britain, highlight its impact on military outcomes. 📖
• Navigational satellite systems such as GPS can be easily jammed, presenting new challenges for modern armies. 📡

Key Takeaways

• Electronic Warfare (EW) relies heavily on the electromagnetic spectrum to disrupt enemy communications and radar systems. 📡
• The three main branches of EW are ECM (Electronic Countermeasures), ECCM (Electronic Counter-Countermeasures), and ESM (Electronic Support Measures). ⚔️
• Jamming is a crucial EW tactic, aiming to confuse enemy radars by sending false signals. 📡
• Decoys like chaff and miniature air-launched decoys (MALD) play vital roles in misleading enemy defenses. 🎯
• Modern advancements require constant adaptation in EW strategies to overcome sophisticated radar and communication systems. 🚀
• Historical use of EW, such as during WWII, demonstrates its long-standing importance in military strategy. 📜
• EW encompasses a wide spectrum, from radio waves to infrared and visible light, impacting all areas of modern warfare. 🌈

Overview

Electronic warfare, often abbreviated as EW, is a complex facet of modern military strategy focusing on the electromagnetic spectrum. This video by Covert Cabal takes viewers on a journey through the intricacies of EW, explaining how it disrupts enemy communications by employing advanced techniques like jamming and deploying decoys. From historical roots before World War II to today’s advanced scenarios, EW remains a crucial element in military planning and execution.

Key components of electronic warfare include electronic countermeasures (ECM), which aim to confuse or jam enemy radars, electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM) that protect friendly systems, and electronic support measures (ESM) focused on information gathering. Such strategies are essential for modern forces to gain an edge, leveraging sophisticated systems to ensure dominance in electronic and radio signal manipulation.

The significance of electronic warfare technology continues to grow in today's conflict landscapes. With increasing reliance on advanced technology, including GPS and unmanned aerial systems, armies worldwide must adapt to protect and leverage their electromagnetic capabilities. Challenges like GPS jamming, demonstrated in regions like Syria and Crimea, underscore the ongoing evolution and importance of maintaining cutting-edge EW capabilities to ensure military success.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Electronic Warfare The chapter begins with an introduction to the topic of Electronic Warfare, highlighting its complexity and breadth. The author mentions the long anticipation for this video and acknowledges the challenge in creating it due to the broad and highly classified nature of the subject. The chapter sets the stage for exploring the intricacies of Electronic Warfare systems, especially given the secretive nature surrounding modern equipment.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Overview of Electromagnetic Spectrum The chapter discusses the electromagnetic spectrum, highlighting that it encompasses x-rays, visible light, infrared, microwaves, and radio waves, differentiated only by wavelength. It introduces the concept of using the electromagnetic spectrum in attacks and delves into electronic warfare, breaking it into three main categories: electronic countermeasures (ECM), and ECCM (presumable continuation from context).
• 01:00 - 01:30: Electronic Countermeasures (ECM) The chapter titled 'Electronic Countermeasures (ECM)' provides an overview of various strategies used to disrupt enemy communications and intelligence gathering. The transcript explains jamming, a common form of ECM, which is used to degrade an enemy's ability to collect and exchange information. This limitation hinders their capacity to effectively attack or defend. Specific examples include jamming enemy radar to disrupt communication or rendering the radar ineffective in obtaining usable data. The chapter likely explores these concepts in detail, highlighting the importance and applications of ECM in modern warfare.
• 01:30 - 02:30: Chaff and Decoys This chapter explores the concept of chaff, a low-tech method categorized under electronic warfare. Chaff consists of thin strips of aluminum, used to confuse radar systems by creating multiple radar returns. This makes it challenging to discern actual objects, as the extra radar reflections create a cluttered signal. Despite being mechanical, chaff's purpose aligns closely with electronic countermeasures, justifying its inclusion in discussions related to electronic warfare.
• 02:30 - 04:30: Active Jamming Techniques The chapter 'Active Jamming Techniques' explains that jamming and electronic warfare (e/w) won't render a target invisible but will alert the enemy to its presence. However, the goal is not invisibility but rather to overwhelm the enemy's sensors to prevent them from distinguishing real targets from fake ones. The chapter touches on the usage of chaff in this context.
• 04:30 - 06:00: Jamming Communications and GPS The chapter discusses methods to disrupt radar-guided missiles, such as anti-ship or anti-air missiles, by using chaff and decoys. Chaff serves to create a false target to mislead missiles, a technique that has been employed since the development of radar and is still actively used. Similarly, decoys can be deployed to present additional targets for enemy radar, with modern aircraft sometimes carrying multiple decoys to enhance defense strategies.
• 06:00 - 12:00: Counter-Countermeasures (ECCM) ECCM techniques include the use of decoys such as the ALE-50 towed decoy system, which is deployed to mislead enemy missiles away from an aircraft. This system has been successfully used in combat by various US aircraft, including the F-16, F-18, and B-1 bomber. Additionally, there are small unmanned aircraft that act as decoys, launched from an aircraft to attract enemy attention and fire away from the main aircraft.
• 12:00 - 15:30: Electronic Support Measures (ESM) The chapter discusses Electronic Support Measures (ESM), focusing on the tactical use of decoys in electronic warfare. It uses the example of the Miniature Air Launch Decoy (MALD) which can emit radio waves that mimic those of manned aircraft to deceive enemies. Additionally, a jamming variant called the MALD-J is mentioned, which not only acts as a decoy but also has the capability to actively jam enemy radar systems, illustrating a dynamic approach to electronic warfare.
• 15:30 - 18:00: Historical Context and Conclusion The chapter "Historical Context and Conclusion" focuses on the evolution of signal transmission technologies, particularly from the Cold War era to the present. It highlights how these methods have developed over time, especially with advances in technology such as phased array radar. Due to their strategic importance and ongoing development, many of these techniques remain classified as closely guarded secrets.
• 18:00 - 19:00: Acknowledgements and Support This chapter explains the basic functioning of radar systems and how they determine the distance of an aircraft by emitting and receiving signals. It also introduces the concept of radar jamming, where an aircraft emits its own signals to confuse the enemy radar, making it difficult for the radar to identify if the signals received are legitimate or deceptive. This technique is particularly used against surface-to-air missile site radars to prevent accurate targeting of aircraft.

Electronic Warfare - The Unseen Battlefield Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] so this is a video I've been plenty on making for a while now well over a year and it's been one of the most asked for one of the issues I had making the video is that the topic is so broad on top of that the information on how exactly these systems work is highly classified especially with the newest equipment electronic warfare or II W as you'll
• 00:30 - 01:00 often hear it called can be broken up into several categories but most broadly it is the use of any of the electromagnetic spectrum in an attack the electromagnetic spectrum includes everything from x-rays to visible light to infrared and microwaves and radio waves they are all the exact same thing the only difference between them is the wavelength electronic warfare can be broken down into three categories ECM or electronic countermeasures eccm
• 01:00 - 01:30 electronic counter countermeasures and e sm electronic support measures the first category ECM is what most people think of jamming Jemmy has done to degrade the enemy's ability to collect and exchange information therefore limit their ability to attack or defend against your attack for example jamming an enemy radar to interfere with their ability to communicate with each other or jamming a radar so that they cannot obtain usable
• 01:30 - 02:00 information from that radar one of the most simple and low-tech versions of this is chaff while it is technically mechanical and not electronic it is sometimes included in the category of electronic warfare and I believe worth discussing Jeff typically consists of thin strips of aluminum that is dropped from an aircraft or launched up into the air these strips reflect radar waves creating a whole mess of radar returns making it difficult to know which return
• 02:00 - 02:30 is the real target and I think it brings up an important point jamming and e/w in general will not necessarily make you invisible the enemy will still know you are there in fact jamming will often alert the enemy that you are there somewhere instead the purpose of it is to overwhelm the enemy sensors so that it cannot distinguish between what is a real target or return and what is not so going back to chaff is often used to
• 02:30 - 03:00 distract radar guided missiles whether they be anti-ship missiles or anti-air missiles by showing them another target which they will hopefully go after instead of the real target chef has been used extensively ever since the development of radar and is still used regularly today along the same lines as chaff our decoys decoys are object that can be launched and again present the enemy with another target some modern aircraft carries several decoys which
• 03:00 - 03:30 can be deployed in the hopes of the enemy missile hitting it instead of the aircraft an example of this is that a Le 50 towed decoy system carried by US aircraft like the f16 f-18 and the b-1 bomber and has reportedly been successfully used in combat another type of decoy are pretty much small unmanned aircraft themselves which are launched from an aircraft and can fly off themselves attracting the attention of the enemy and the enemy's fire weapons
• 03:30 - 04:00 like malt or the miniature air launch decoy is an example some of these decoys can emit radio waves as well copying that of manned aircraft to further deceive an enemy into thinking that the decoy is an actual manned aircraft there is also a jamming version of the balls called the Maul J this decoy is able to actively jam enemy radars as well as acting as a decoy the next is arguably the more exciting method of electronic warfare that is jamming by actively
• 04:00 - 04:30 sending out your own signals this has been around for a while but really took off during the Cold War now there are many many methods of doing this way too many to adequately cover here also techniques and methods have changed with the event of things like phased array radar which these methods as they are still relatively newer are highly classified in fact you could say that they're some of the most closely held secrets today but we know some of the basic techniques
• 04:30 - 05:00 most simplistically our radar will emit a signal and bounce off an aircraft and return to the radar from the time this takes it'll know exactly how far away the aircraft is from the radar when jamming the aircraft is actively emitting signals back to the enemy radar itself so that the enemy does not know if the signals it is receiving are theirs or fake ones so if it was a surface-to-air missile site radar the jamming aircraft would send back signals
• 05:00 - 05:30 at the same frequency to the radar some may arrive earlier some later than the real return since the radar uses the time it takes for a signal to return to calculate the range an aircraft jamming would appear to constantly change distances also depending on the type of radar jamming in this manner can also create the appearance of the aircraft being on different bearings as well as the radar rotates it is looking in different directions for aircraft if the jammer sends a signal when the radar is
• 05:30 - 06:00 pointed in a different direction it will appear to the radar that there is an aircraft in that direction with the two of these combined our radar will get returns from all different distances and in different directions the point of doing this is to hopefully not allow the radar to calculate a firing solution as it cannot pinpoint the aircraft's location a similar method can be used to also jam airborne radars here's a quick clip from a game called DCs showing a
• 06:00 - 06:30 similar pattern as before the radar is getting many returns and cannot pinpoint the distance of the jamming aircraft radio waves are subject to the inverse square law meaning that if you double the distance the power is four times less so in jamming it's important to have a very powerful system with radar the signal is subject to the inverse fourth power as the signal has to travel from the radar bounce off the object and then return back to the radar
• 06:30 - 07:00 because of this when an aircraft is attempting to jam a radar whether it is a ground-based radar for a SAM system or against another aircraft jamming is more effective from a distance as a to get closer there is a point where the radar return exceeds the power of the jamming this is called burn through at which point the jamming is in essence useless another method is to jam communications this has become somewhat less effective
• 07:00 - 07:30 in modern days but works by blasting radio signals on the same frequency to create interference like somebody shouting while you're trying to talk so the peel air person cannot make out what you are saying this method can be used with voice communications so that the two enemy units cannot communicate or even on wireless networks exchanging data packets Russia in general has invested much into jamming one interesting system is called the Murmansk BN the system is a large very
• 07:30 - 08:00 powerful electronic warfare platform that has the ability to monitor or Jam wireless communications over a very long distance Russia claims it as a range of 3,000 kilometres and up to 5,000 under ideal situations like weather four of these systems can be seen just south of Sevastopol Crimea if those ranges are to be believed that would cover all of Europe and the entire Middle East but even with more conservative estimates of the range it
• 08:00 - 08:30 can cause serious issues for militaries operating in the Black Sea and most if not all of Ukraine jamming GPS is another major one in modern warfare and jamming GPS signals is not that difficult the relatively weak signals meant that even back during the Gulf War when GPS was brand new several Iraqi units were able to disrupt the system with fairly inexpensive and crude electronics events recently in Syria have shown just how susceptible
• 08:30 - 09:00 gps is to jamming there have also been many reports in places like Norway where Russia has been interfering with GPS navigation and this isn't limited just to GPS but all navigational satellite systems be at Russia's GLONASS or China's Bay due to they are all susceptible to jamming and the issue is many modern weapons are reliant on these systems for guidance it's a major problem in modern warfare the over reliance on modern technology
• 09:00 - 09:30 this fact has not gone unnoticed though many weapons have more than one form of guidance for example the newest Stormbreaker or SDB to glide bomb uses both GPS and inertial guidance along with active radar and infrared homing jamming and electronic warfare in general has been a field that has seen much research into recently with the rise of drones there are the more famous examples like when Iran managed to bring down the u.s.
• 09:30 - 10:00 rq-170 in 2011 but with the rise of small cheap consumer drones co-opted for military use it has become a real problem these drones can be packed with explosives and their small size and low cost means that they pose a threat to targets generally considered to be safe in August of 2018 the president of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro was nearly assassinated by two drones armed with explosives while he was
• 10:00 - 10:30 giving a speech and just recently Heathrow Airport in London was shut down after drones were sighted creating a risk to airplanes so defending against these threats had become vital these drones can cost a couple hundred dollars while air defense systems can cost tens even hundreds of thousands of dollars per missile finding a way of jamming these drones therefore has become a priority Russia has been known to operate such equipment and has used it to defend their airbase in Syria and
• 10:30 - 11:00 advanced Russian systems have been appearing in eastern Ukraine as well disabling Ukrainian government drones conducting reconnaissance other less well known forms of jamming are used regularly the u.s. presidential motorcade carries radio jammers to make coordinating any attack much more difficult and can't be seen anytime the president is traveling counter countermeasures have also been devised to defeat or mitigate the effects of electronic warfare this falls into the
• 11:00 - 11:30 category of eccm one such method is to use weapons that could home in on the jamming signal these guidance systems instead of emitting a signal will pick up the jamming and follow it as it gets stronger until it reaches a location that is being broadcasted from another method includes constantly changing the frequencies of the radar this way the jammer would have a much more difficult time knowing which frequency to jam or force the jammer to jam many different
• 11:30 - 12:00 frequencies at once which spreads out the jammers power weakening it on any individual frequency ASA radars are a good example of this older radars cannot easily change their frequency therefore making the jammers job much easier as a new watch frequency the target will be operating on a ISA radars are electronic and can easily shift frequencies this greatly increases difficulty in jamming them modern radars have made jamming much more difficult as well as their
• 12:00 - 12:30 computing and processing power has increased exponentially allowing them to detect minut differences in signals and identify which signals are real and which ones are false also other forms of sensors and guidance can negate radar jamming for example infrared search and track or irst these can be used to detect and track targets that are either jamming or are stealthy which make them harder to detect on radar although they
• 12:30 - 13:00 do have some downsides weather can impact their performance and they do not have as long of a range as radar Russia is known to use many of these irst systems on their aircrafts surface-to-air missile systems and also operate long-range IR missiles and that brings up another topic most of this video have discussed electronic warfare pertaining to radar and radio waves but II W encompasses the entire AM spectrum that includes visual and infrared while these areas have not been
• 13:00 - 13:30 exploited to the same level as radio waves there are some systems operational one example is the AL q 144 over 8,000 of the 144 and its upgrades and variants have been built and is used by more than 20 nations the system protects against IR guided missiles such as MANPADS by radiating controlled pulses of infrared energy another system uses lasers which are
• 13:30 - 14:00 aimed at the incoming missiles seeker head and steer them away from the target also although it is again mechanical flares are used to throw off IR guided weapons and sensors like chaff they are typically dropped from aircraft they work by creating a powerful IR signal which hopefully the incoming missile will lock onto instead of your aircraft and the final category is ESM or electronic support measures this term
• 14:00 - 14:30 can often be used interchangeably with eland or electronic intelligence it is collecting information from radar radio communications and any other system that emits a signal and using that information to detect classify analyze and even spy on a potential enemy doing this can give you information such as what frequencies are being used so that you can prepare a defense such as jamming you've probably heard in the news in the last few years stories about
• 14:30 - 15:00 how a US spy plane was intercepted in the Black Sea by Russian interceptor aircraft or in the South China Sea by Chinese fighters these events happen semi-regularly this is what these aircraft are doing Eiland or ESN missions collecting and analyzing emissions from radars and other radio communications these tests aren't only carried out by aircraft though the Murmansk BN I discussed earlier has the ability to kentuc dealin these types
• 15:00 - 15:30 of missions have been going on for decades in fact just before the start of world war ii in the late 1930s the germans noticed england was constructing large masses along the coast Germany at the time was working on developing their own form of radar and believed it was possible that the British who were deploying such a system the Germans took a Zeppelin loaded it with sensitive electronics and flew it up and down the coast listening for any emissions from
• 15:30 - 16:00 the masts these could be considered the first airborne island missions but the flights failed to detect any signs of an active radar system as it turns out the British did have an active radar system called chain home and the Germans had their sensors set to the wrong frequency there are some historians who argue that this mistake could have changed the course of the war in the late stages of the Battle of Britain the Germans could not believe how many fighter aircraft
• 16:00 - 16:30 England seemed to have they seemed to be everywhere every time the German bombers flew on bombing missions when in reality England was running extremely low on usable aircraft Germany eventually ended the battle not knowing how close they had come to winning and the fact that England had very few aircraft remaining but were able to use them much more effectively with the radar able to vector them had Germany continued the battle they might have won which could have led to an invasion of England and
• 16:30 - 17:00 possibly changed the course of world war two entirely now obviously it's impossible to prove that but it's interesting to think about but it highlights the importance of elin yessum an electronic warfare overall modern warfare and technology has created an entire new battlefield in which each side must fight NATO actually classifies electronic warfare as its own war fighting environment or domain just as they fight in any other environment such
• 17:00 - 17:30 as on land air sea and space and I just want to take a second to again thank my supporters on patreon it really is incredible the support you give thank you so much also you know I try hard to stay out of politics but it's come to my attention that there are some people upset with patreon policies and recent actions and have requested that I also set up an account on an alternative crowdfunding site if anyone has any suggestions of a good
• 17:30 - 18:00 alternatives please let me know I will not be deleting the patreon just setting up another account for those who would rather not use patreon in the meantime I have also created a PayPal account set up for donations any support you guys could give me there is greatly greatly appreciated even if it's the lowest amount your help will goes a long way to allow me to keep making videos and devoting more and more of my time to the channel thank you again
• 18:00 - 18:30 [Music]