3.1 Introduction

The main weapon systems employed by national armed forces were described in Chapter 1. From the discussion there, it follows that for the development of effective electronic countermeasures (ECM) the operation of the following systems needs to be analyzed:

• Early warning systems provide a general warning to all other defensive layers of a territory. To defeat these systems the best tactic is to avoid being detected by them. As the effectiveness of these systems is mainly based on the search radar performance, the most effective ECM against them are those discussed in Chapter 2.

• Artillery systems of the following types:

  1. Radar-guided anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) systems;

  2. Radar-guided antiship fire control systems;

  3. Antitank systems with optical guidance, laser range finders, and guided projectiles.

• Missile systems of the following types:

  1. Anti-aircraft surface-to-air missile (SAM) and air-to-air missile (AAM) systems, radar- or IR-guided;

  2. Antiship systems: either missiles launched from another ship, air-to-surface missiles (ASM) launched from an airborne platform, or surface-to-surface missiles (SSM) launched by a coastal defense system; these are at present radar-guided missiles; in the future they may be either IR-guided or have hybrid guidance;

  3. Antitank systems, at present wire- or IR-guided, in the future guided by millimeter-wave radar;

  4. Antiradiation missile (ARM) systems.

Moreover, since communications play an important role in the performance of an armed force, communications systems should also be included among the systems that must be countered electronically.

In practice, all weapon systems are organized as in Figure 3.1. A warning center detects and analyzes the threats...