American military leaders say the United States has a technological advantage in electronic warfare. However, they need to be prepared to confront an enemy with serious capabilities in this field.
The United States still has a technological advantage in electronic warfare, but both Russia and China have recently made significant progress in this area. As U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. David Snoddy said, Americans need to “increase separation distance.” Breaking Defense reported this on December 13.
Observers write that after a decade of silence in the debate on the development of electronic warfare, the issue of developing military technologies in this field is again on the agenda of American generals. It can be concluded, especially from the numerous speeches of military officials, that the United States should “be careful, but not too careful.”
Potential of the Russian Federation and China
Experts note that, on the one hand, Russia, which has a Soviet legacy, has made progress in the field of creating electronic warfare systems that were successfully used against Ukrainian forces during a large-scale war. On the other hand, in 2015, China created a new PLA military service called the Strategic Support Force, which focuses on information warfare, including the development of electronic warfare, cybersecurity, and other areas of information technology.
But Snoddy said the United States has become accustomed to being the “undisputed technological leader” in this field since World War II. According to him, if we consider China separately, Chinese experts have been carefully examining America’s potential in this field for many years.
Important
China has spent 44 years of peace studying U.S. weaknesses and developing a strategy to exploit those weaknesses through cyber, electronic and information attacks coordinated by the Strategic Support Force. Its aim is to paralyze the US military’s digital system.
“They think the same way we should, and they’ve made the electromagnetic spectrum one of their top priorities. Many people still think we have a technological advantage, but it’s less than before… Now we’re focused on getting it back,” Snoddy emphasized.
USA’s preparation
Retired Lieutenant General Jack Shanahan, founder of the Pentagon’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, also speaks in this context. In his view, the United States must be ready to engage an enemy with serious means of waging electronic warfare.
Meanwhile, former deputy chief of staff General Steven Wilson noted that although Americans have the best technology in the world, more bureaucratic obstacles are emerging in this area.
“The gap has narrowed. We know how to solve this part of the problem; we have the best technologists in the world, but we have become too rigid, too complex and bureaucratic to do everything quickly,” the general emphasized.
It was previously reported that Chinese experts working in the defense industry announced that they could develop a microwave facility that would suppress the enemy’s electronic warfare systems. They say such equipment could be placed on drones.
Source: Focus
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