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Next-Gen Jammer: Raytheon Leads A Revolution In Information Warfare
Less than a year after commencing technology development of a new airborne jamming system for the U.S. Navy, Raytheon has proven the potential of its design in tests above California’s Mojave Desert. In a series of October flights at the Navy’s China Lake test range, the jammer performed flawlessly against threats mimicking the features of advanced Russian and Chinese radars. This was the first time a fully integrated version of the jammer has been tested in airborne configuration, generating its electrical power from air rushing past the host plane. Navy testers gave it their highest ratings.
The program is officially designated the Next Generation Jammer, but calling it a “jammer” is a like calling the Tesla a car. It is the leading edge of a revolution in information warfare the will witness the convergence of electronic countermeasures, cyber operations and signals intelligence in an integrated suite of technologies aimed at mastering the electromagnetic spectrum “from direct current to light,” as Raytheon executive Rick Yuse puts it. In other words, the Next Generation Jammer advances the day when all of the frequencies on the spectrum currently used for communication and sensing will be subject to management and manipulation by U.S. warfighters. If ever there was an example of high-leverage innovation in military technology, this is it.
The Navy’s most immediate need is for a compact, versatile new jammer that can replace its increasingly obsolete Cold War electronic-warfare pods in the mid-range of operating frequencies. The service won’t say precisely what wavelengths that encompasses, but it is the most densely-used part of the spectrum where most air defenses and tactical communications systems function. It is also a common frequency range for the devices that jihadists employ to trigger improvised explosive devices. So when the Next Generation Jammer joins the fleet aboard the Navy’s carrier-based EA-18G electronic-attack plane in 2020, it will be able to provide protection for both forces in the air and troops on the ground.
The basic purpose of jammers is to defeat hostile emitters like radars and radio by flooding the frequencies in which they operate with energy so that enemies cannot collect or transmit information. That requires being able to precisely identify the relevant frequencies and then generate sufficient local energy to prevent their use — not an easy task when adversaries may be operating in dozens of discrete wavelengths using frequency-hopping and other techniques to evade countermeasures. The Navy’s existing jammer, which was designed in the era of vacuum tubes, is gradually being overwhelmed by all the options available to enemies.
Recognizing the danger, the Navy conducted an analysis of alternatives a decade ago and determined it needed a new jammer with far greater radiated power and spectral precision. A key feature of the new jammer would be “active electronically scanned arrays” — meaning transmitters that direct their jamming signals by shifting phase electronically rather than being mechanically moved. Moving parts tend to wear out, and can’t deliver the agility of electronically-scanned systems. The Next Generation Jammer will be able to defeat diverse threats simultaneously with sufficient accuracy so that it does not disrupt friendly signals on adjacent frequencies (such as GPS signals). It will be more efficient, more reliable, and more maintainable.
These features will be especially useful in helping the joint force to defeat the anti-access/area-denial strategies of countries like China. The Navy must be able to defeat enemy air defenses and communications if it is to assure access to all the world’s littoral regions, and using “non-kinetic” tactics such as jamming is less provocative than dropping bombs. The inherent flexibility of the jammer’s software-intensive design and open systems architecture will facilitate adapting to new threats as they emerge during a period of unprecedented technological ferment. As Rick Yuse, who heads the Raytheon business unit that produces the jammer and other airborne electronic systems, told Aviation Week & Space Technology earlier this year, “we can’t bend new metal every time the threat changes,” so growth potential had to be built into the system.
An important aspect of Raytheon’s approach to the Next Generation Jammer is the use of gallium nitride technology, arguably the most important advance in semiconductor material science since silicon. The heat capacity and thermal conductivity of gallium nitride makes it ideally suited to use in high-frequency, high-power transistors — including for power amplifiers that operate at microwave (i.e., radar) frequencies. Raytheon has been pouring corporate research money into the technology for over a dozen years, and it now seems to be a key discriminator in competitions for new military radars, jammers and related devices. The company has won so many contracts recently that it is rearranging the competitive landscape in the electronics segment of the defense market.
Perhaps people should not be surprised to see such innovations coming out of a company whose name translates from French and Greek as “light from God.” Raytheon was founded by leading scientists in the 1920s as electrification was transforming commerce and culture. It played a key role in the commercialization of radio and the development of radar, and then later was instrumental in devising the microwave oven. As the company’s centennial approaches, though, it has a far grander vision of how new technology can keep America ahead in all the fields contributing to information warfare. What the Next Generation Jammer’s perfectly executed tests in October demonstrated was that Raytheon executives don’t just want to be part of that process — they intend to lead it.
Next-Gen Jammer: Raytheon Leads A Revolution In Information Warfare - Forbes
Less than a year after commencing technology development of a new airborne jamming system for the U.S. Navy, Raytheon has proven the potential of its design in tests above California’s Mojave Desert. In a series of October flights at the Navy’s China Lake test range, the jammer performed flawlessly against threats mimicking the features of advanced Russian and Chinese radars. This was the first time a fully integrated version of the jammer has been tested in airborne configuration, generating its electrical power from air rushing past the host plane. Navy testers gave it their highest ratings.
The program is officially designated the Next Generation Jammer, but calling it a “jammer” is a like calling the Tesla a car. It is the leading edge of a revolution in information warfare the will witness the convergence of electronic countermeasures, cyber operations and signals intelligence in an integrated suite of technologies aimed at mastering the electromagnetic spectrum “from direct current to light,” as Raytheon executive Rick Yuse puts it. In other words, the Next Generation Jammer advances the day when all of the frequencies on the spectrum currently used for communication and sensing will be subject to management and manipulation by U.S. warfighters. If ever there was an example of high-leverage innovation in military technology, this is it.
The Navy’s most immediate need is for a compact, versatile new jammer that can replace its increasingly obsolete Cold War electronic-warfare pods in the mid-range of operating frequencies. The service won’t say precisely what wavelengths that encompasses, but it is the most densely-used part of the spectrum where most air defenses and tactical communications systems function. It is also a common frequency range for the devices that jihadists employ to trigger improvised explosive devices. So when the Next Generation Jammer joins the fleet aboard the Navy’s carrier-based EA-18G electronic-attack plane in 2020, it will be able to provide protection for both forces in the air and troops on the ground.
The basic purpose of jammers is to defeat hostile emitters like radars and radio by flooding the frequencies in which they operate with energy so that enemies cannot collect or transmit information. That requires being able to precisely identify the relevant frequencies and then generate sufficient local energy to prevent their use — not an easy task when adversaries may be operating in dozens of discrete wavelengths using frequency-hopping and other techniques to evade countermeasures. The Navy’s existing jammer, which was designed in the era of vacuum tubes, is gradually being overwhelmed by all the options available to enemies.
Recognizing the danger, the Navy conducted an analysis of alternatives a decade ago and determined it needed a new jammer with far greater radiated power and spectral precision. A key feature of the new jammer would be “active electronically scanned arrays” — meaning transmitters that direct their jamming signals by shifting phase electronically rather than being mechanically moved. Moving parts tend to wear out, and can’t deliver the agility of electronically-scanned systems. The Next Generation Jammer will be able to defeat diverse threats simultaneously with sufficient accuracy so that it does not disrupt friendly signals on adjacent frequencies (such as GPS signals). It will be more efficient, more reliable, and more maintainable.
These features will be especially useful in helping the joint force to defeat the anti-access/area-denial strategies of countries like China. The Navy must be able to defeat enemy air defenses and communications if it is to assure access to all the world’s littoral regions, and using “non-kinetic” tactics such as jamming is less provocative than dropping bombs. The inherent flexibility of the jammer’s software-intensive design and open systems architecture will facilitate adapting to new threats as they emerge during a period of unprecedented technological ferment. As Rick Yuse, who heads the Raytheon business unit that produces the jammer and other airborne electronic systems, told Aviation Week & Space Technology earlier this year, “we can’t bend new metal every time the threat changes,” so growth potential had to be built into the system.
An important aspect of Raytheon’s approach to the Next Generation Jammer is the use of gallium nitride technology, arguably the most important advance in semiconductor material science since silicon. The heat capacity and thermal conductivity of gallium nitride makes it ideally suited to use in high-frequency, high-power transistors — including for power amplifiers that operate at microwave (i.e., radar) frequencies. Raytheon has been pouring corporate research money into the technology for over a dozen years, and it now seems to be a key discriminator in competitions for new military radars, jammers and related devices. The company has won so many contracts recently that it is rearranging the competitive landscape in the electronics segment of the defense market.
Perhaps people should not be surprised to see such innovations coming out of a company whose name translates from French and Greek as “light from God.” Raytheon was founded by leading scientists in the 1920s as electrification was transforming commerce and culture. It played a key role in the commercialization of radio and the development of radar, and then later was instrumental in devising the microwave oven. As the company’s centennial approaches, though, it has a far grander vision of how new technology can keep America ahead in all the fields contributing to information warfare. What the Next Generation Jammer’s perfectly executed tests in October demonstrated was that Raytheon executives don’t just want to be part of that process — they intend to lead it.
Next-Gen Jammer: Raytheon Leads A Revolution In Information Warfare - Forbes