USAF Ponders Cyber Counterattack
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By David Fulghum
The U.S. Air Force hasn’t given up on an airborne electronic attack capability.
It has, in fact, morphed into a major issue for Pacific Air Forces planners as they have begun to look at mounting digital counterstrikes while under cyber and electronic attack. The problem is becoming even more complicated as networks and weapons systems expand and overlap to open new and unexpected avenues for penetration that must be located and defended.
An Air Force electronic attack capability — possibly using future capabilities of the F-22 and F-35 — “would include a joint approach with [the Navy’s EA-18G] Growler and other platforms,” says Gen. Howie Chandler, commander of Pacific Air Forces and soon to be Air Force Vice Chief of Staff. “I can tell you that the attempts to develop a B-52 [stand-off] jammer were good, but simply outgrew our pocketbook. We like platforms that have multiple uses and purposes, so if we can get into systems that allow us to switch sensors or carry a large complement of multi-INT sensors [that simultaneously manipulate data from different parts of the spectrum], that’s good.”
A good example would be the F-22’s radar, which can be used as a small-target radar, electronic jammer, network attack device or high-volume communications device, possibly all at the same time.
“[Cyberwarfare] is not just computer network offense and defense,” says Lt. Gen. Chip Utterback, commander of 13th Air Force. “We have to look at the entire electronic spectrum, and that can be affected even from space. It involves denying access electronically.”
The same rules apply for cyber defense. “You need the [tactical] electronic [attack] capability to deal with [enemy] cruise missiles, ballistics missiles and multiple warheads,” he says. “You have to get inside decision cycles and [the foe’s] ability to conduct command and control. And you’ve got to be able to defend against multiple attack axes — space or terrestrial. It’s not just long-range strike anymore.”
Protecting your own communications while compromising the foe’s is another high-priority goal. “If you can influence, impact and affect an adversary’s ability to command and control, you can defend yourself,” Utterback says. “Our investment in EW and EA over the last several years has not been robust. But now it has grabbed the attention of our combatant commanders and the warfighters.”
Air Force investments have been reinvigorated, but they won’t pay off in the short term. Eventually, however, the F-22, F-35 and Next Generation Jammer are expected to the most effective products of the effort for airmen.
Stealthy aircraft plus new electronic attack techniques is a formula that Air Force planners think will stand the test of time. Utterback works from the basic premise that stealth eventually will be compromised. So the idea is to start with stealth and speed and then constantly upgrade the EW/EA capabilities to maintain the ability to penetrate enemy air defenses.
Photo: U.S. Defense Dept.
