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The goal of electronic warfare is to control the electromagnetic spectrum. It is generally
considered to consist of:

• Electronic attack, such as jamming enemy communications or radar, and disrupting
enemy equipment using high-power microwaves.

• Electronic protection, which ranges from designing systems resistant to jamming,
through hardening equipment to resist high-power microwave attack, to
the destruction of enemy jammers using anti-radiation missiles.

• Electronic support which supplies the necessary intelligence and threat recognition
to allow effective attack and protection. It allows commanders to search
for, identify and locate sources of intentional and unintentional electromagnetic
energy.

The traditional topic of cryptography, namely communications security (Comsec), is only a small part of electronic protection, just as it is becoming only a small part of information protection in more
general systems. Electronic support includes signals intelligence (Sigint), which consists
of communications intelligence (Comint) and electronic intelligence (Elint). The
former collects enemy communications, including both message content and traffic
data about which units are communicating, while the latter concerns itself with recognizing
hostile radars and other non-communicating sources of electromagnetic energy.

Deception is central to electronic attack. The goal is to mislead the enemy by manipulating
his perceptions in order to degrade the accuracy of his intelligence and target
acquisition. Its effective use depends on clarity about who (or what) is to be
deceived, about what and how long, and-where the targets of deception are human-
the exploitation of pride, greed, laziness, and other vices. Deception can be extremely
cost-effective and is also relevant to commercial systems.

Physical destruction is an important part of the mix; while some enemy sensors and
communications links may be neutralized by jamming (soft kill), others will often be
destroyed (hard kill). Successful electronic warfare depends on using the available
tools in a coordinated way.

Electronic weapon systems are like other weapons in that there are sensors, such as
radar, infrared and sonar; communications links, which take sensor data to the command
and control center; and output devices such as jammers, lasers, and so on. I'll
discuss the communications system issues first, as they are the most self-contained,
then the sensors and associated jammers, and finally other devices such as electromagnetic pulse generators. Once we're done with e-war, we'll look at the lessons we might
take over to i-war.