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Electronic Support Measures (ESM) and Electronic Counter-measures (ECM) equipment is widely used by modern surface and subsurface warships as well as naval aviation and ground intercept facilities ashore to avoid detection and to reduce the effective use of hostile fire control equipment. Such equipment must be consistently improved over time to satisfy the need for precise and reliable information in a dense signal environment. Despite the advances achieved in the performance of these systems during the past decade, there are acknowledged weaknesses in the present use of ESM/ECM due to two reasons. One reason is that such systems are costly, not only in resources and personnel training, but also because of the tactical uncertainties and limitations that they impose in scenarios such as inshore or littoral warfare. The other is the enemy that could intend to change its operating technique and thU.S.change the character of the battlefield by employing sophisticated Electronic Protective Measures (EPM) functions.
EW-A NAVAL WEAPON SYSTEM
Information is the key to success in any military action. Information superiority has been shown to be fundamental in naval warfare which can be used as effectively as any conventional weapon in order to achieve knowledge superiority over the future adversary and to obtain an overall picture of the battlespace. A key aspect of modern naval warfare is deadly strike which may be launched by hostile forces over-the-horizon for distances of up to 1,000 kilometres. This is a huge problem because large areas must be consistently watched for threats and risks. Central to this problem is electronic protection at sea which are fully integrated ESM and ECM systems (both are abbreviations used as a singular noun) employed to overcome the problems within the rapidly evolving Electronic Warfare (EW) environment.
FUNCTIONAL SYNERGY
Modern warships have extensive capabilities in ESM and ECM employed for full emitter detection, identification, location, dynamic threat analysis, and countermeasures deployment (see figure 1). ESM/ECM capabilities are v also being frequently incorporated into shipboard or airborne multifunction systems to also include both Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) and Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) functions. Because ESM is essentially passive, it permits the ESM collection platform to remain electronically silent. Wide bandwidth, wide dynamic range ESM receivers (usually covering 30 MHz to 50 GHz) provide early warning of...