Russia’s Evolving Electronic Warfare Capability: Unlocking Asymmetric Potential

"Moreover, in one of Lastochkin’s co-authored articles in Voyennaya Mysl, this was again proposed with the supporting idea that operational art for the EW forces must further develop in the future. Noting the pivotal role played by electronic and IT assets in 21st century warfare, and outlining the extent to which these play an important role in the United States’ military, Lastochkin cautioned that “relying too much on high-information and electronic technologies made the course and outcome of combat actions increasingly dependent on the condition and functioning standards of computer information and computing networks, knowledge and databases, systems and assets of radio communication, radar, radio navigation used in systems of state and military control, reconnaissance, and control of weapons, particularly high-precision ones.” Such possible vulnerabilities, in his view, could be exploited using EW. But while he paid attention to the changing nature of warfare, his main agenda was to push a complimentary process to boost operational art in support of the evolution of the role played by EW (Voyennaya Mysl, September 2017, pp. 18–25).

In a similar article in Voyennaya Mysl, a group of Russian EW specialists considered the application of such capabilities in a tactical context, but still strongly advocated raising the EW Forces to an arm of service. At the tactical level, EW Forces mainly suppress enemy electronic assets. However, if used as a combat arm, new types of impact emerge, including “electromagnetic radiation (EMR) disablement, special program effects (SPE), and radiation self-guided weapon (RSGW) impact.” The authors argue that, “The electronic impact (EI) delivered by heterogeneous EW weapons and systems will be the main form of the EW forces and assets (troops) employment. The prospective EW assets implementing new types of impact will participate in it. EI will be jamming, combined, and disabling in terms of content. The electronic fire impact (EFI) that will be delivered by the EW forces independently by means of radiation self-guided weapons coming into operation will become a new form of employment” (Voyennaya Mysl, November 2017, pp. 15–20). "