Electronic warfare
Electronic warfare is military action that uses electromagnetic energy for awareness and for offensive and defensive effects, as defined in NATO terminology.
Electronic warfare (EW) is, in NATO terminology as quoted by the UK Ministry of Defence, military action that exploits electromagnetic energy to provide situational awareness and to achieve offensive and defensive effects. It is a concept-level definition and says nothing about specific methods, which are classified and are deliberately not covered here.
Categories in doctrine
The UK Joint Doctrine Note on cyber and electromagnetic activities (February 2018) breaks electronic warfare into four elements, citing NATO definitions for the first three:
- Electronic surveillance: the use of electromagnetic energy to provide situational awareness and intelligence.
- Electronic defence: the use of electromagnetic energy to provide protection and ensure effective friendly use of the electromagnetic spectrum.
- Electronic attack: the use of electromagnetic energy for offensive purposes, to reduce an adversary’s ability to understand, shape or exploit the operational environment.
- Electronic warfare management: the capability to coordinate and deconflict electronic warfare activities.
The note places EW alongside signals intelligence, spectrum management and communications as the four key electromagnetic activities, and treats them as interlinked parts of operations. Labels can differ between publications and editions, so the terms should be read against the document and edition being cited.
Doctrine and governance
The NATO publication for the subject is AJP-3.6, Allied Joint Doctrine for Electronic Warfare. The UK note refers to its Edition B, and NATO’s cyberspace doctrine, AJP-3.20 Edition A, points readers to AJP-3.6 and states that cyberspace operations must be coordinated with electromagnetic operations, including electronic warfare. The AJP-3.6 text is not reproduced in the sources used here, which rely on national documents that refer to it. NATO’s cyberspace doctrine also records a NATO Electronic Warfare Policy, issued as MC 0064/11 in August 2018.
Why it matters for defence technology
Almost every modern military system depends on the electromagnetic spectrum: radar, communications, navigation, data links and many sensors. EW therefore overlaps with radar and software-defined radio design, and with the way forces plan spectrum use. Because the same hardware and signal-processing skills serve sensing, communications and EW, capabilities are increasingly specified in software and updated over time. That raises questions about coordination, since EW activity can affect friendly systems unless it is deconflicted. UK doctrine accordingly emphasises management and coordination cells as part of the function.
What to watch
- The relationship between EW and cyber activity, which doctrine now treats together.
- Updates to AJP-3.6 and to national publications as terminology is revised.
- Procurement choices over how EW capability is integrated with sensors and communications.
- Policy on spectrum access and the legal framework, which are matters for governments rather than technology alone.
Sources
Related: AESA radar · Command and control (C2) · Multi-domain operations · Software-defined radio in military communications