6 June 2024

Army units won’t all receive the same electronic warfare systems — and ‘that’s OK,’ officials say

MARK POMERLEAU

With a variety of dynamic threats across the world, the Army is coming to terms with the fact that units across theaters will have different electronic warfare equipment based on region.

“We’re going to have to get comfortable with the fact that some things are going to be good enough for [Central Command], some things are going to be good enough for [European Command], but they may not be good enough for [Indo-Pacific Command] when it comes to the capabilities. I think collectively, the Army is starting to realize that that’s OK,” Brig. Gen. Wayne “Ed” Barker, program executive officer for intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors, said at the Army’s Technical Exchange Meeting in Philadelphia this week.

The service has been on a years-long journey to rebuild its EW arsenal after it divested much of it following the conclusion of the Cold War. Russia’s 2014 incursion into Ukraine spurred a hastening of those efforts, which mostly focused on the European theater.

Now, as the Indo-Pacific has become the priority theater for the Department of Defense, which refers to China as the “pacing threat,” the Army is forced to develop capabilities that will have to span different regions that have their own unique terrain and challenges from an electronic warfare perspective, and address different threats that employ their systems distinct from others.

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