Electronic warfare

Electronic warfare (EW) is a term that includes a number of different electronic technologies for intelligence gathering and/or interfering with enemy operations. Electronic intelligence (ELINT), or eavesdropping, has been going on since the invention of the telephone and telegraph. Electronic countermeasures (ECM) deprive an enemy of the electronic spectrum by creating interference (jamming) that obscures their information or generates false information (spoofing). Electronic counter countermeasures (ECCM) is an effort designed to mitigate and overcome enemy ECM operations. ECM objectives include: search for signals in frequency, azimuth, and elevation; detect and identify radar signals via characteristics; and establish signal importance; commence appropriate countermeasures. It is only recently that these technologies have traditionally been categorized as EW, and are also referred to as electronic combat (EC). This section will focus on EW as it relates only to aviation.