The Storm EW Spectrum Warfare Suite can be customized and integrated into a variety of platforms, both manned and unmanned, as well as guided missiles. Image courtesy of BAE Systems.
In this Q&A with Bridget McDermott, product line director for Advanced Electronic Warfare Solutions at BAE Systems, we discuss how the company is addressing the need for agile and scalable electronic warfare through systems such as the Storm EWTM Spectrum Warfare Suite.
Breaking Defense: What’s the threat scenario today that necessitates better EW solutions, both offensively and defensively — especially the need for standoff capability in a near-peer competition?
Bridget McDermott is product line director for Advanced Electronic Warfare Solutions at BAE Systems.
McDermott: The battle space is changing, threats have continued to advance consistently over time, and the air domain is heavily contested right now. Yesterday’s EW systems provided situational awareness in a mostly analogue environment, but today’s threats require advanced detection, location, and response capabilities. Even the most capable aircraft are at risk because of the constant emergence of new threats. Low observability and stealth just aren’t enough.
What’s needed are advanced EW systems that allow us to compete and maintain air dominance across the spectrum. The modern threat is advanced with increased range capability — both air-to-air and surface-to-air — and an ability to operate in highly agile and adaptable ways across the broad frequency spectrum.
We need to counter those adaptations with advanced EW that is physics based for staring capability across wide ranges of the frequency spectrum to combat today’s threats across the battlespace. This is what we do at BAE Systems and we’ve been doing it for a significant amount of time.
We know that the China threat is real. We’re developing EW systems that look to the future, look at the latest data, and understand where the threat is going so that we can defeat it, while at the same time being ready for the threats of tomorrow that appear every single day.
Breaking Defense: BAE Systems specializes in the four main components of EW: electronic support, electronic protection, electronic attack, and mission support. Explain.
McDermott: We’ve been at this and delivering EW systems for over 60 years. We’re on 80 percent of US military fixed-wing aircraft and 95 percent of the US Army’s rotary wing aircraft. Those core capabilities are our area of expertise. We have the people, the experience, and we’ve made the investment that allows us to deliver this technology to dominate the electromagnetic spectrum.
We focus on detection, identification, and then disrupting and neutralizing threats. We also provide protection and electronic attack for full-mission 360-degree support. It’s not just electronic attack and electronic protection, but also ops analysis, mission planning, management tools, and test systems and maintenance aids that support and expand mission capabilities against an ever-changing threat for the entire life cycle of our systems.
Breaking Defense: You’re providing EW support, protection, and attack for 5th-generation fighters such as F-22 and F-35. What’s different about EW systems for 5th-gen aircraft?
McDermott: It’s all about the next generation of these systems and these platforms. There are so many benefits that fifth-generation aircraft bring to electronic warfare, such as the ability to integrate radar warning, targeting support, and countermeasures into one system. Then there is the increased situational awareness, the 360-degree staring view that I mentioned before, along with providing what we call ‘rapid response capabilities’ to protect the air crew.
Our systems provide warfighters with the ability to reach well-defended targets even in signal-dense environments. That’s needed today because it allows missions to be completed successfully while still protecting the warfighter. That’s what we’re focused on in all of our systems.
For the F-35, for example, we provide the aircraft’s EW system. The F-35 uses the AN/ASQ-239 electronic warfare suite to detect and defeat ground-based and airborne threats while using electronic protection, support, and attack capabilities to advance its missions. AN/ASQ-239 is the world’s most advanced, fully-integrated electronic warfare and countermeasures technology.
Breaking Defense: Let’s talk about your latest product, the Storm EWTM Spectrum Warfare Suite, which has a blend of offensive and defensive capabilities. Tell us about it.
McDermott: We’re excited about Storm EWTM. This high-performance, low-risk spectrum warfare suite was introduced to keep a variety of tactical platforms survivable and lethal well into the future. Warfighters and platforms equipped with Storm EWTM will be able to execute missions and engage targets with tactical advantage, and defeat advanced threats even in highly contested environments.
Storm EWTM is built upon a common-core architecture composed of high-performance EW building blocks leveraging mature technology that BAE Systems has evolved over time creating the most advanced EW capability today.
Storm EWTM’s swappable subcomponent modules are important because the size of platforms is always changing. The available SWaP across those platforms is also going to evolve over time and our systems need to be able to support that. Storm EWTM provides a baseline that allows us to do that across a variety of current and future platforms, as well, while still delivering the same capability using the same products from the same production line.
Its trusted hardware baseline can be customized and integrated into a variety of platforms, both manned and unmanned, as well as guided missiles. It provides technical dominance and also rapidly reprogrammable software, firmware, and mission data to quickly counter the evolving threat.
Storm EWTM delivers on the DoD’s vision of a scalable and adaptable, open EW solution that permits the use of third-party software for programming. It’s exportable and affordable based on a common architecture. It addresses a broad set of requirements, but also allows for a streamlined build process and lower overall lifecycle cost.
Breaking Defense: How does BAE Systems deliver at every stage of the EW lifecycle, from development to production to sustainment?
McDermott: When we talk about the full lifecycle, we’ve transformed our business model to develop the technology to outpace the threats across the spectrum. That starts with development, and we’re at the forefront of developing technologies that enable what I call ‘adaptability.’ We see that as being important in providing agile responses to threats since they’re ever changing and constantly expanding. Our systems need to be able to do the same.
Our business builds on over $3 billion in investments in technology, research, development, and digital engineering. That is, to develop advanced electronics, autonomy, multispectral sensors, and processing for capabilities such as: distributed EW, which provides warfighters with efficient control and coordination of EW platform resources, formations, and activities necessary in contested environments; cognitive EW where artificial intelligence and machine learning enhance development and operation of EW technologies; as well as anti-jam and layered countermeasures.
This all prepares us for the transition of our systems into production. We’ve significantly invested in our production facilities, including three state-of-the-art microwave manufacturing factories.
We’ve completed an 86,000-square-foot manufacturing expansion to ensure that we are ready for these new systems to transition into production. We have proven production capabilities, and we have the capacity in place today to support the future production ramps that are coming our way.
And we carry that forward through the full product lifecycle from development to sustainment. We design with a long-term supportability mindset from the start, ensuring we have an efficient and cost-effective support solution in place for our products. BAE Systems has more than 10 years of experience in performance-based logistics contracts, and we have dedicated sustainment centers of excellence to support the full lifecycle of our products. And considering the introduction of Storm EWTM which is a common baseline, we’re making the sustainment portion of the life-cycle cost much more efficient.
Breaking Defense: You’ve mentioned the need for future-forward, EW-capable combat aircraft. Does that include legacy aircraft?
McDermott: Yes, absolutely. Our adversaries are becoming more sophisticated. Our systems need to be able to do that, too, and that includes our legacy aircraft. The real-world threat is so critical that we need to field as many future-forward, EW-capable combat aircraft as soon as possible. Anything less than that capability is a risk to survivability and mission effectiveness.
Our Storm EWTM Spectrum Warfare Suite adds that capability to any combat aircraft. It brings next-generation capabilities to fourth-gen aircraft, and increases their lethality and survivability while shortening system build times and reducing overall cost, including total life cycle costs.
Breaking Defense: Final thoughts.
McDermott: Our Storm EWTM Spectrum Warfare Suite is designed to provide customized state-of-the-art offensive and defensive EW mission systems for combat platforms. It’s built on a proven, common-core architecture.
It allows us to accelerate the delivery of software-based EW capabilities that provide warfighters with situational awareness, survivability, and the offensive electromagnetic capability needed for the complex mission of today and tomorrow.
It is scalable, upgradeable, and sustainable and provides a trusted hardware baseline that can be customized and integrated across a variety of manned and unmanned vehicles delivering critical capability