C.4 Electronic Warfare (EW) and Electronic Countermeasures (ECM) The military use of sophisticated electronics has become so pervasive that, in many instances, modern military organizations cannot accomplish their missions if denied use of their electronic systems. This is particularly true in space where the accomplishment of military activities is predicated on proper functioning of electronic systems and subsystems. Accordingly, electronic warfare will be an important element in all categories of space warfare. Electronic warfare may be used in support of offensive operations, it may pose a significant threat to space activities and it may be used for the mutual or self-protection of space activities. Preliminary considerations of the relevance of these aspects of EW to SPS operations are provided in this appendix. C.4.1 The SPS as an EW Weapon/Platform The primary offensive objective of electronic warfare is to prevent effective use of electronic systems by hostile forces. A variety of electronic countermeasures (ECM) and techniques may be applied. However, intelligence regarding the characteristics and operational use of hostile systems is a prerequisite for the effective application of ECM to counter their use by hostile forces. Electronic warfare includes both electronic intelligence (ELINT) and ECM activities. ELINT operations may be conducted to satisfy a variety of requirements. For example, electronic reconnaissance may be used to locate hostile elements, to update hostile force electronic order of battle (EOB) information, to obtain information on specific emitters, to test hostile force response capabilities, or to evaluate hostile command and control procedures. The specific ELINT configuration, such as frequency coverage and resolution, analysis capabilities, etc., are determined by the set of operational capabilities required and the platform character- istics/constraints. The basic SPS includes none of the system capabilities required for the detection, reception, recording, or processing of signals of military interest. Although the SPS may constitute a useful platform for an ELINT capability, the realization of that capability would require the addition of ELINT modules designed to be compatible with the SPS.
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