Army takes electronic warfare to troops in the field

The Army is putting the tools of electronic warfare into the hands of soldiers in the field. During a recent demonstration, the Army conducted a proof-of-principle contested-airspace event in which the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command demonstrated electromagnetic interference effects on GPS receivers in the air.

The two objectives of the exercise, as outlined by Capt. Will Archbold, home station training chief of the Army’s Training and Exercise Division, were “to show counter-electromagnetic interference techniques…and second was to practice the execution of the training,” he said in an Army release.

Students at Fort Carson are briefed on Defense Advance GPS receivers in preparation for the exercise.

The exercise, at Fort Carson, Colo., consisted of trainers turning on a commercial-off-the-shelf short-range electromagnetic interference generator that will transmit a signal to interfere with a Defense Advance GPS receiver signal reception. Students at the demonstration practiced mitigating the effects of the electromagnetic interference.

The exercise will be used as a proof of principle for a future program to be used by soldiers during home station training, the Army said, adding that observations on the optimum location of the EMI generator will inform development of future training in a contested environment.  

"Our vision is to have this training available to every warfighter in the Army. This event moved this vision forward significantly,” Archbold said.  

“Our organization supports implementation of the Army Space Training Strategy,” said Lt. Col. Sig Ullrich, a Department of the Army civilian and course manager in DOTD. “G3 TREX supports on the operational side and DOTD on the institutional side. It was great to see us working together on this event.”

While the Army seeks to refine the training program, the eventual goal is to train soldiers how to succeed in a contested space environment.