The decisive combat capability created by Gripen E’s state-of-the-art Electronic Warfare System.
“The term Electronic Warfare (EW) commonly refers to military action involving the use of Electromagnetic Effects (EM) and Directed Energy (DE). Over the decades, modern EW has grown by leaps and bounds from the days of simple radar jamming and radio communication systems. Today, it is often perceived to be about sense and see, deception and denial to ensure efficient mission survivability. However, in the highly contested and rapidly changing future mission environments, this, perhaps, is no longer true?
But let’s start from the beginning… in the fighter domain, EW is fundamentally divided into three divisions:
- Electronic Protection (EP): includes actions taken to protect personnel, equipment and facilities from the effects of hostile, neutral or friendly use of EW, as well as natural phenomena that damage, neutralize or destroy one’s combat capability.
- Electronic Attack (EA): involves the use of electromagnetic (EM), directed (DE) energy, or anti-radiation weapons to attack personnel, equipment, or facilities with the intent to suppress, neutralize, or destroy enemy combat capability.
- Electronic Support (ES): refers to actions to search, intercept, identify, and locate emitting sources for the purpose of immediate threat recognition, targeting, planning, and conducting future operations.
Modern radar and air defense systems are increasingly agile in their operation. Through the use of the latest technologies, agile networks, and new adaptive operational methods, today’s fighter pilots face extremely complex and volatile signal environments. This means that the requirements of modern fighter units and their EW capabilities are very demanding. One way to overcome these challenges is the use of Network Warfare, where sensors and systems, both on board and on other platforms, work collaboratively. This enables EW mission execution in entirely new and efficient ways that are unpredictable from the adversaries’ point of view.
The automated information exchange, combined with the highly developed Human-Machine Collaboration (HMC) in Gripen E, provides a decisive informational advantage that ensures the correct course of action at every moment of the battle. As a result, the system ensures unique situational awareness, optimal survivability and lethality, and maximum mission success in every activity.
Enhanced electronic protection, electronic attack and ISTAR capability
The Gripen EW system provides electronic protection by maximizing the use of state-of-the-art technologies and applications. It provides full 360 degree spectral coverage, thus providing each Gripen E with an electronic shield, providing survivability in highly contested environments. The system works seamlessly with the Radar Warning Receiver (RWR), Missile Approach Warning System (MAWS), BOL dispenser and other passive and active countermeasures.
Gripen E’s powerful EW system can be used offensively for electronic attack missions. A combination of internal and external jamming capabilities, tailored radar capabilities, as well as air-launched flares are used to counter, prevent and confuse any threat, significantly eliminating the adversary’s long-range combat capability. The Gripen Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) system can significantly suppress and damage the detection, tracking and targeting capability of any adversary’s sensor and weapon systems.
The Gripen E Electronic Support capability is created by the highly integrated use of the AESA radar, RWR and its electronic signal measurement capabilities to detect, identify and locate all sources of radiated EM energy. This enables full combat intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (Combat ISTAR) capabilities in the Gripen E, providing very valuable support to all cooperating friendly combat forces.
As a result of the cited capabilities and the Gripen E’s open architecture, advanced software methods/techniques, and functional partitioning of flight and mission critical, the Gripen is designed to be easily adaptable, as new capabilities can be quickly introduced to the system as new threats emerge and as new technologies evolve. This will ensure the continued operational relevance of the Gripen E throughout the life of the platform and give the Gripen E all the capabilities needed to control the electromagnetic spectrum and provide air dominance in high threat environments for decades to come.
NOTE: The first generation Saab warner radar system was installed on a Saab 32 Lansen over 60 years ago during the Cold War. As pioneers in Electronic Warfare, Saab’s philosophy has always been to invest in innovative technologies to detect, deceive and counter threats in the smartest way possible.
