The most important thing in warfare has always been intelligence of the adversary’s technology, capabilities, and posture. This is no different in today’s battlefield, which is inundated with sensors operating across the electromagnetic spectrum from extremely low frequency radio signals to millimeter waves and on to the infrared. What do we do to defeat all these sensors and maintain the all-important intelligence advantage?
We use electronic warfare (EW), “the art and science of preserving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum for friendlies while denying its use to the enemy”. We will break down EW into its three elements: Electronic Support, Electronic Attack, and Electronic Protection, and explore how these are related to Signals Intelligence.
In this context, we’ll explore radar which is one integral corner of EW’s vast landscape. We will begin by looking into the roles and importance of radar on the battlefield and review an example of the life and death impact of characterizing adversarial radar for use in combat identification. The fundamental physics of radar will be discussed, so we can understand how electronic warfare engineers might use this knowledge along with intelligence sources to characterize adversary radars. Ultimately, we will see how this analysis is used in every DOD air asset, from cargo planes to F-22 stealth fighters, to ensure the safety of our sailors, soldiers, marines and airmen.
Dr. Vincent Kitsmiller joined SRC Inc. in 2022 and is currently an electronic warfare engineer working on the DOD’s Electronics Warfare Integrated Reprogramming Database. Prior to that he worked in biomedical equipment and other manufacturing roles for Micro Aire Surgical Instruments as the manufacturing site’s senior electrical engineer and as the primary research and development electrical engineer for Eberle Design Inc. His electronic warfare career began while working for the Army’s National Ground Intelligence Center as an electronic intelligence engineer.
He received his bachelor’s degree in engineering physics from The Ohio State University in 2015 and a Ph. D. in electrical engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 2021. Dr. Kitsmiller is also a veteran of the United States Air Force where he served as a radio frequency transmission systems specialist for the Ohio Air National Guard’s 221st Engineering Installation Squadron. He has published articles in the areas of biomedical optics and electronic intelligence and holds a patent in biomedical imaging technologies.