美 공군과 해군 연합 전자전비행대대 (EW Squadron) 구성 소식...

 

미 공군과 해군 합동으로 전자전 비행대대를 구성한다는 AW&ST 의 기사입니다. Ares 블로그에 관련 소식을 전하는 형식으로

소개한 내용입니다.

 

미 공군과 해군은 플로리다주  Eglin 공군기지에 F-35 JSF 로 구성되는 제513 전자전비행대대를 창설, 전자전공격능력에 대한

연합작전 능력을 갖출 것이라 합니다. 제53 비행단 예하에 구성되는 513 비행대대는 현재 AESA 레이더 장착이 진행되고 있는

F-15C 와 해군의 EA-18G Growler 를 이용해서 향후 F-35 JSF 가 정식으로 인도될 때까지 새로운 형태의 전자전(공격) 능력을

완성할 계획이라는 기사입니다.

 

아래 원문을 읽으시는 분들께는 오히려 방해가 될 것 같아 더 이상의 설명은 생략합니다.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Ares

A Defense Technology Blog 

Airborne Electronic Attack to Become Joint and Centralized

Posted by Sean Meade at 5/9/2010 2:50 PM CDT 

 

David A. Fulghum writes :

 

A long-running Pentagon quandary -- over who conducts airborne electronic warfare, how offensive, electronic-attack capabilities should be strengthened and when or what permission is needed to launch tactical cyber attacks – may now be on the road to resolution.

 

The latest signal that a true transformation is building momentum is U.S. Air Force activation of the 513th Electronic Warfare (EW) Squadron at Eglin AFB, Fla. to meet needs of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

 

The Air Combat Command unit will be staffed half by USAF personnel and half by Navy and Marine Corps specialists. Command will rotate among the services. Navy officials at Washington’s Navy League Convention say the move is more than just laying the EW ground work for the Joint Strike Fighter. It is expected to become the focus of a single operation to create the software, algorithms and waveforms needed to field a coordinated, cross-service set of electronic tools that can combat enemy radars, missiles and networks through information manipulation, disruption of command and control, anti-electronic attacks and jamming.

 

Creation of the squadron, part of the 53rd Wing at Eglin, comes just as the Air Force has begun equipping its F-15Cs with new, long-range active, electronically-scanned array radars (AESA). The advanced AESAs operate at 2-3 times the range of conventional radar and also serve as a powerful weapon for airborne electronic attack (AEA) when coupled with a techniques generator that produces unique waveforms and algorithms. The Navy’s Next Generation Jammer is also expected to play a major role in joint services’ AEA planning and various versions will be carried by the F-35.

 

AESA radars with similar capabilities also equip the F-22 Raptor, EA-18G Growler and the F/A-18E/Fs Super Hornets. The JSF is expected to serve, in the long term, as a stealthier version of the Growler. All of those aircraft will need similar software, architecture and a steady diet of upgrades to meet new threats. It also would ensure that they can fly in mixed service and mixed platform attacks and exchange data fast enough to be tactically relevant.

 

The 513th’s first commander is Air Force Lt. Col. Tim Welde. Fully staffed, the unit will have about 130 personnel in a 50-50 service mix.

 

“The unit also will test F-35 EW capability in the new U.S. Reprogramming Lab, currently under construction with a projected completion date this summer, followed by hardware delivery in spring 2011,” says Welde, "Our engineers are currently developing threat models and 5th generation mission data; our technicians are undergoing maintenance training as well as prepping the lab."

 

The squadron is expected to draw heavily on EW technology, tactics, threat analyses and attack techniques honed by the Navy in the last two decades.

 

“I don’t know that [the centralization of EW] has been formalized,” says Navy Capt. Mark Darrah, program manager for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler. “But I know those [AESA-equipped fighter] units are standing up with very specific training requirements. We’ve had AESA for some time and we know how it works. The technology is the same. It makes good sense that we do that [in a joint environment].”

 

Meanwhile, the Navy is conducting an aggressive upgrade program to increase the AEA capabilities of its new EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft that would eventually transfer to the F-35. Until then, it also will dedicate 26 Growlers to squadrons that support the USAF’s Air Expeditionary Forces.

 

The new Growler EA and Super Hornet strike platforms are being designed to operate with “every other platform,” Darrah says. In particular, “we are working closely with the Joint Strike Fighter program to develop complementary combinations” of stealthy and non-stealthy aircraft for combat.

 

The Air Force is following a similar path in pairing its non-stealthy, AESA-equipped F-15Cs for the non-penetrating, “stand-in” jamming role in support of stealthy F-22 so that the latter can remain electronically silent to avoid detection.

 

Test of the Growler’s APG-79 AESA radar has validated that it can detect large targets at least at twice the distance of a mechanically-scanned radar and three times the range for small targets, Darrah says.

 

A partial list of new capabilities includes full-spectrum EA, network centric operations, interference cancellation and DRFM jamming, Darrah says. The last refers to a standard EW tactic that captures an incoming radar signal, alters it to change the intended target’s speed, range, altitude, signatures, and send it back to the emitter (probably a radar) with the false information. Interference correlation is the Growler’s unique capability that allows it to jam and communicate at the same time.

 

Sophisticated data and communications connectivity on the Growler and Super Hornet allows them to pass long-range AESA identification and targeting data to aircraft that do not have the advanced radar, Darrah says.

 

 

  ⓒ FL ANG

 

  F-15C Eagle, 125th FW ⓒ FL ANG

 

  F-15C Eagle, 125th FW ⓒ FL ANG

 

  EA-18G Growler ⓒ U.S. Navy

 

  EA-18G Growler ⓒ U.S. Navy

 

  EA-18G Growler ⓒ U.S. Navy