Air combat: Air Force rethinks approach to 'electronic attack'.

• Author: Gons, Eric

After years out of the spotlight, electronic warfare is reemerging as a critical part of Air Force plans to maintain dominance of air and space.

"Seamless integration of kinetic and non-kinetic capabilities" is the vision of future electronic warfare operations, said Lt. Col. James Albrecht, of the Air Combat Command Threat Awareness Branch.

Key to the reemergence of electronic warfare in the coming years are new unmanned aircraft and an upgraded B-52 bomber equipped with standoff jamming pods.

Electronic warfare in the future will encompass more than just jamming enemy radar, officials said. The long-term goal is to be able to use electrons to defeat targets that traditionally would be struck with kinetic bombs.

Although improved radar jamming is a centerpiece of the Air Force's electronic warfare vision, other capabilities may be on the horizon. "We are on the edge of this precipice where, we're evolving as a war fighting force to work non-kinetic capabilities," said Albrecht.

Gen. Hal Hornburg, who heads the Air Combat Command, said he views "electronic attack" as a powerful addition to the traditional arsenal of weapons.

Electrons literally could replace bombs one day, Hornburg speculated. "I look forward to the day where we can convince a surface-to-air missile that it's a Maytag in a rinse cycle ... I look forward to the day that from some capability from the air or from space we can do something like take an advancing phalanx of enemy armor and shut down its ignition systems."

Such technology exists, but has not yet been incorporated into mainstream military tactics, said Albrecht. The Air Force will continue to pursue technological breakthroughs in this arena, he said. "By spending the research and development funds to turn non-kinetic technologies into war fighting capabilities, the Air Force can be successful in its mission and, at the same time, reduce the overall cost of war."

More immediate concerns in electronic warfare involve the need to supplement the radar-jamming capabilities provided by the Navy's aging EA-6B Prowler, which took over the missions that the Air Force previously performed, before it retired the EF-111 Raven in 1995. At the time, Air Force planners decided the jammer would no longer be needed, assuming that the advent of stealth fighter jets would make radar jamming obsolete. That did not turn out to be the case, and the Prowler fleet quickly became overstretched as U.S. forces engaged in various conflicts...