Busting Myths about Military Technology and the Electromagnetic Spectrum
By Kelly McSweeney
There are many misconceptions about electronic warfare, which uses the electromagnetic spectrum or directed energy to attack and defend against enemies. The electromagnetic spectrum is a range of wavelengths or frequencies covering all types of electromagnetic radiation, such as radio waves, visible light, microwaves and more. Electronic warfare involves controlling this spectrum.
Here, we'll bust myths about the broad range of electronic warfare techniques that can be used to detect threats, hide from threats and jam signals.
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Myth #2: You Have to Emit a Signal to Track an Adversary
EW systems can detect radio frequency (RF) energy without ever emitting a signal. It is possible to detect a signal and even get specific geolocation information this way. Communications systems and radars must emit to perform their functions, EW systems can just listen.
“The race to win a targeting advantage has existed for decades. Passive Precision Targeting gives our warfighters that advantage in the race to stay ahead,” says Thompson.
"Fundamentally, if you're going to detect anything in the electromagnetic spectrum, you have to have a sensor that is tuned to detect specific things, and that spectrum varies over frequency," Zars says.
Therefore, depending on what your threats are, you have to have the proper frequency coverage. Adding to that challenge, threats are constantly evolving, so sensors need to be upgraded to cover different parts of the spectrum.
