---

Airmen Fighting ISIS Talk Future Electronic Attack Aircraft EC-X Industry News AOC News & Events AOC Chapter News and Events

---

 

DON'T MISS TOMORROW'S FREE WEBINAR: Introduction to Direction Finding Systems
Thursday, July 27 | 14:00-15:00 EST (18:00-19:00 UTC)

Direction Finding (DF) is a critical technology across the spectrum of Electronic Warfare (EW) applications and domains, with increasing demands for accuracy even as the electromagnetic spectrum becomes more congested. The goal of this presentation is to provide an understanding of how radio frequency DF systems work in both communications and radar applications.

Starting with amplitude and phase comparison DF systems, their operation, accuracy, and applications will be explored. This will be followed by a similar discussion for Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) and Frequency Difference of Arrival (FDOA). DF system components are also discussed, with a focus on the antenna, arrays, and DF specific electronics. This understanding of the system architecture and DF methods is then used to evaluate their accuracy and how that is measured. This presentation will conclude with an overview of current DF methods for multiple simultaneous signals, such as Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC) and Estimation of Signal Parameters via Rotational Invariance Technique (ESPIRIT).

Register Now

---

 

COMING SOON: AOC EW Conference at DSEI, September 12
Tuesday, September 12 | 15:30-17:00 | Future Electronic Warfare and Electromagnetic Operations
We live in a time of increasing uncertainty on many fronts.  Threats, challenges and opportunities are increasing.  Technology is accelerating.  The world is undoubtedly changing and in unforeseen and perhaps unforeseeable ways.  In terms of future warfare, national forces are being re-shaped and re-equipped to face an operational maneuver space that is already more complex and connected, but constrained.  It may well be chaotic unless the right, informed choices are made now.  In terms of EW and electromagnetic operations, and the Electromagnetic Environment/Domain that underpins much of warfare and everyday life, how can we make sense of all of these things?  

The AOC EW conference will consider the future of EW and EM Operations in the changing light of current and emerging threats, including Hybrid Warfare and Cyber Electromagnetic Activities where potential opponents are out-performing the West.  It will consider the possible responses, how thinking and attitudes must change, and examine the new capabilities that will be required across all lines of development, by all services, in all countries in the free world.  This is an unclassified conference.

Learn More...

---

 

PAPERS DUE MONDAY, JULY 31: Present at the 54th Annual AOC International Symposium and Convention, November 28-30 in Washington, D.C.
"Innovation and Change in Electromagnetic Warfare"

The electromagnetic environment is changing at an increasing pace, and thus the importance of electronic warfare (EW) system adaptability, flexibility, and innovation has also increased. Not only are innovative technologies greatly needed, but the Industry and EW Community itself needs to change organizationally to embrace innovative ideas, technologies, and tactics – and at a significantly faster pace. Innovation is more than just technology refresh, it is also culture refresh.

The 54th Annual AOC International Symposium and Convention will focus specifically on these ideas and provide Industry, Government, and Militaries a world-class forum to address how we should change and innovate as an EW community. The Symposium will highlight some of the most advanced and innovative technologies on the horizon and discuss how organizational change can be embraced to be more agile and engender more calculated risk taking. Talks will focus on what challenges are currently in the way and some stories of how change is currently being implemented.

Upgrades to our systems, as well as our acquisition cultures, is vital to maintain (and in some cases, regain) our electromagnetic warfare superiority.

CALL FOR PAPERS
The 54th Annual AOC International Symposium and Convention will be focusing this year's Technical Sessions on Innovation as the overarching theme. There will be four (4) topic area Technical Sessions representing the very latest in EW technologies and innovations. To that end, we are requesting abstracts for paper presentation against any of the four (4) topic areas specifically. The Technical Sessions are titled:

1) Innovations in Modular Multi-Mission EW/SIGINT/COMMS Open Systems Architectures
2) Innovations in Software Defined Radios/Transceivers
3) Innovations in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
4) Innovations in Jammer Technologies

Deadline for Submission of Paper Abstracts: July 31

Call for Papers Details
Symposium Details

---

 

REGISTER NOW: 2nd Annual Electromagnetic Maneuver Warfare Systems Engineering and Acquisition Conference, September 26-28
Our adversaries are using ubiquitous and cheap technology to further develop cyber warfare as well as advance and proliferate electromagnetic spectrum capabilities. Electromagnetic Maneuver Warfare (EMW) is the Navy's warfighting approach to gain a decisive military advantage in the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) to enable freedom of action across all Navy mission areas. Success demands a holistic system of systems focus looking not only at the systems themselves but also the "interstitial" space which is the dimension of the systems. EMW will require coordination and simultaneous integration across all domains (land, sea, subsurface, air, space, and cyber). EMW, in essence, means leveraging the cyberspace domain and the full electromagnetic spectrum for both offensive and defensive effects.

EMW is not a program, or system, or even a refined concept of operations. It is an emerging operational approach, one we must master to fully understand the battlespace. We must then use that awareness to better employ our own forces while altering the enemy's perception of the battlespace and minimizing his freedom to maneuver within it.

Mastering EMW will have commercial, financial and political impacts. It is important for program managers, engineers, and business planners to be aware of the Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution (PPBE) process, the tools used, and the complexities in performing defense acquisition and systems development in the emerging EMS environment in order to provide value to managing and performing program funding and mission success.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS



Dr. William Conley, SES
Deputy Director, Office of the Under Secretary of) Defense for
Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (OUSD AT&L/A/) Tactical Warfare Systems

The Honorable Rob Wittman
US House of Representatives (VA-1)

Mr. Bryan Clark
Senior Fellow, Center for  Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA)

Register Now!

---

 

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN: 3rd Annual Cyber Electromagnetic Activity (CEMA) Conference, October 16-19
October 16-19, 2017 | Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD
"The Multi-Domain Battle: A Combined Arms Approach to Enabling Maneuver through CEMA Operations"

This year's focus will be on the emerging Joint Army/USMC Multi-Domain Battle concept and the implications with respect to CEMA. The MDB entails a combined arms approach for ground combat operations against a sophisticated peer enemy threat in the 2025-2040 timeframe. Building on current service and joint doctrine, the MDB requires flexible and resilient ground formations that project combat power into the land, air, maritime, space, and cyberspace domains. It is a continued evolution of the combined arms methodology to include not only those capabilities of the physical domains, but places even greater emphasis on space, cyberspace, and other contested areas such as the EMS, the information environment, and the cognitive dimension of warfare. As for the role of CEMA in the MDB, it's about creating and exploiting exploit temporary windows of advantage in and presenting adversaries with multiple dilemmas in the spectrum across time/space with an intensity and duration of our choosing. Acknowledging that the world is very different now with more capable near-peer adversaries who are able to contest all physical domains as well as cyberspace, we need to recognize that and challenge the CEMA community of interest for novel, adaptive and innovative capability solutions in EW, Cyber, SIGINT and other related technology areas. This is just the nature of the current environment.

Register Now!

---

 

CONGRATULATIONS to the 2017 AOC Award Winners!
The AOC will recognize the premier leaders in EW, IO and EMS Operations fields throughout our 54th Annual Symposium and Convention. Please join us in celebrating these award winners for their exemplary service to our community. The Gold Medal Award is the highest award given by the AOC for outstanding advances and contributions in all fields of EW and IO. The Gold Medal Award will be presented during the Opening Session on Tuesday, November 28th. The Hal Gershanoff Silver Medal Award is presented to an AOC member to recognize outstanding service in furthering the goals of the Association or its Chapter Organization(s). It is the highest award given to a member for service to the AOC. The Hal Gershanoff Silver Medal, the Colonel Anton D. Brees Lifetime Service Awards, and the Joseph W. Kearney Award will be presented at the Annual Banquet on Wednesday, November 29th. All other Individual awards will be presented at separate venues.

Full List of Award Winners
AOC Annual Symposium and Convention Page

---

 

 

CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS: 6th Annual AOC Pacific Conference, October 17-19 in Honolulu
Non-Kinetic Fires (EW & IO) in the Multi-Domain Battle

The theme for the 2017 AOC Pacific Conference, "Non-Kinetic Fires (EW & IO) in the Multi-Domain Battle," will drive discussions that build upon those from the last two AOC Pacific Conferences, that examined the role of IO in countering/defeating Anti-Access and Area Denial (A2/AD) strategies (2016), IO in Hybrid Warfare (2015).

America’s current and potential adversaries in the Pacific regard EW and cyber as critical components of both peacetime hybrid warfare and A2/AD. An example of offensive cyber used as part of hybrid warfare is seen in the recent "Wanna Cry" computer attack, launched by North Korea’s 6,700-strong "hacking Army" which is based worldwide. The importance of effective electronic protect computer network defense was reinforced by MG Patricia Frost, who stated simply "Without the network, there is no Multi-Domain Battle." Our adversaries will make this difficult, as they seek to overmatch our EP and CND capabilities. It is a real concern among defense experts that adversaries and threat actors are employing automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in both offensive and defensive cyber capabilities at rates that exceeding that of the U.S.

CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS: DUE AUGUST 31
AOC and the PACOM J39 is soliciting original unclassified English language presentations and/or papers for the 6th AOC Pacific Conference from subject matter experts in the U.S. and Allied militaries/government, as well as from academia and industry on the conference theme. Presentations for the full symposium must be UNCLASSIFIED, or UNCLASSIFIED releasable to participating Allied militaries of Australia, Canada, France, Great Britain, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan. Presentations for classified sessions at Camp Smith should be at the SECRET REL/FVEY level, or at higher classification for smaller break-out sessions.

Potential Speakers are invited to note the conference sessions topics and specific areas of interest:

• Warfighting perspectives from the Information Related Capability areas with respect to the requirements of MDB.
• Historical and current perspectives of the application of IO to overcome anti-access strategies and to reach target audiences in denied environments
• Analysis of current and potential A2/AD threats to the U.S. and her Pacific Allies.
• Analysis of adversary and potential adversary offensive EW and cyber strategies for peacetime, crisis, and conflict.
• Experimentation, Exercises and Training for the application of IO in support of MDB.
• Current and emerging technology solutions for the effective employment of information-related capabilities in MDB.

Please contact the Symposium Chair, Arthur Tulak, COL USA, Ret, at arthur.n.tulak.ctr@pacom.mil if you are interested in speaking or want more information and provide the title of the proposed paper, a brief synopsis, and information on the speaker. Industry presentations that support the conference theme may be submitted for either the UNCLASSIFIED or SECRET REL FVEY days. Company or product-focused briefs will not be accepted. The deadline for submitting is close of business Wednesday, 31 August 2017, but earlier is better.

Learn More...

---

 

The Fifth International Conference on Electronic Warfare is the latest event in the internationally acclaimed EWCI Conference Series in India, in the field of Electronic Warfare and related areas. The Conference is being organised by the much Awarded India Chapter of Association of Old Crows (AOC), Bangalore. The Conference has the active support of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Government of India, Ministry of Defence and the Defence Public Sector Unit (DPSU), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bangalore. The Conference is envisaged to be of great use for Modern Armed Forces, Military Planners, Developers, Procurers, Testers, Trainers and Vendors of the latest EW Technologies and Systems. Past Conferences in the Series attracted large delegations from Indian Armed Services, DRDO, Defence PSUs, National and International EW Professionals. A large scale Indoor Exhibition will accompany the Conference, displaying the latest EW Products from International EW Organisations. There will be an intense one-day Pre-Conference Tutorials preceding the Conference. The Conference is visualised to be an important platform for EW Professionals who would share the Research and Development output in the field of EW at the global level. Hence the theme of the Conference is chosen as "EW: SHARE FOR SUCCESS."
Learn More...

 

---

 

The Association of Old Crows (AOC) Aardvark Roost Chapter is getting ready to host its biennial Electronic Warfare South Africa (EWSA) 2017 Conference and Exhibition in November and has announced its key speakers.

The conference will take place at the CSIR International Convention Centre in Pretoria between 6 and 8 November. The event will consist of a one-day workshop (6 November), followed by a two-day conference and exhibition (7 and 8 November), hosting local and international thought-leading EW experts. The exhibition will showcase the latest local and various international technologies as well as provide a global perspective of the capabilities within the electronic warfare (EW) community. (Defence Web)
Learn More...

 

---

 

VISIT THE AOC JOB VACANCIES PAGE: Post Your Jobs
Employers can post on the Job Vacancies page for free. Follow the guide located HERE to provide information on posting a job listing. Submitted listings will remain live for 30 days. The AOC will not format or edit submitted postings, and will not respond to any questions from candidates concerning postings. We are hoping members and sponsors will take advantage of this free AOC service. Complete the guide linked above and submit to Tim Hutchison at hutchison@crows.org.

Job Vacancies Page

---

 

No matter which company wins the Air Force contract to build the Compass Call successor, warfighters who fly the EC-130H are hoping for the new jamming plane to sport similar if not smaller airborne electronic equipment — and sooner rather than later. "There’s always a requirement to improve," Lt. Col. Matthew, mission commander with the 43rd Expeditionary Electronic Combat Squadron, said during a recent interview. Military.com spoke with pilots and electronic warfare officers with the squadron, part of the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing, on a recent trip to the Middle East. They talked to this reporter on the condition that last names not be used, due to safety concerns amid ongoing air operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. (DoD Buzz)
Learn More...

 

---

 

"Our problem isn’t super sophisticated," he explained. "I call it our ‘better homes and gardens’ ontology, which is essentially trucks and all of the [electronic] features that exist in general society." The last publicly disclosed major cyber operation against ISIS began last November, and raised questions about the ability for the U.S. to conduct cyber warfare in other countries’ domains whose networks happened to be used by ISIS. According to a former official quoted in The Washington Post, the operations included denying ISIS propaganda experts access to their online accounts, and remotely erasing battlefield video footage from ISIS servers. (Defense Systems)
Learn More...

 

---

 

As the Army hardens its networks against Russian-style jamming and hacking, it can’t afford the time or money for another high-tech, high-cost, multi-year mega-program like the failed Future Combat Systems. Instead, the service mostly has to make the best of what it has. That requires an array of unglamorous improvements to its crucial networks: standardizing a dizzying array of networks to the same software baseline; simplifying software so young soldiers can use it without specialist contractors on call; streamlining hardware so it can be deployed rapidly and set up quickly in the field; and, sometimes, dusting off forgotten tech and asking, in the words of the Army’s Program Executive Officer for Command, Control and Communications – Tactical (C3T), "how the hell do we turn these on?" (Breaking Defense)
Learn More...

 

---

 

An increasingly sophisticated and rapidly evolving threat with ready access to advanced, commercially available off-the-shelf technology is transforming the operational context in which the Australia Defence Force must now survive and fight. The next generation battlespace will be contested across multiple domains with control of the Electromagnetic Spectrum becoming just as important as control of the Air if the Joint Force is to operate with the freedom of manoeuvre necessary to ensure campaign success. (Second Line of Defense)
Learn More...

 

---

 

After years of delays and debate, construction of the Royal Navy’s future Type 26 frigates has officially begun at a shipyard in Scotland. The full class of eight ships will provide a number of critically needed capabilities, including acting as additional escorts for the United Kingdom’s up-coming pair of supercarriers. The first of those flattops, HMS Queen Elizabeth, is in the middle of her first sea trials in the North Sea. On July 20, 2017, the United Kingdom’s Defense Secretary Sir Michael Fallon led a ceremony to cut the first steel for the lead ship at BAE Systems’ Govan shipyard in Glasgow. (The Drive)
Learn More...

 

---

 

Against the stillness and quiet of the desolate Yuma desert, an invisible battle raged in the brutal summer heat. However, instead of bullets and bombs, these combatants harnessed the power of electromagnetic waves to disrupt their opponent. The U.S. Army Rapid Equipping Force, along with the Georgia Tech Research Institute, conducted an electronic warfare test exercise here, June 19-24, to assess the capabilities of multiple systems against a series of communication and data threats. "As technology accelerates, the Army must continue to innovate faster than current and potential adversaries across multiple domains—including the electromagnetic spectrum," said Lt. Col. Scott Schumacher, a REF solutions team chief. "This is why the REF exists. We seek to provide the latest technology to the Warfighter as new threats emerge downrange." (DVIDs)
Learn More...

 

---

 

The Defense Department is posturing itself to fight and win wars and conflicts in all domains, especially cyberspace. At the top level, DoD, along with the contributions of the services, is continuing to build out the cyber mission force that makes up U.S. Cyber Command, focused on strategic and joint force commander problem sets. In addition to their CMF contributions, the services are working to stand up their own cyber forces to get at service-specific, organic mission sets. (Federal Times)
Learn More...

 

---

 

China has launched a military agency tasked with developing state of the art weapons, the latest step in the country’s ambitions to transform its army into a modern fighting force. The Scientific Research Steering Committee was set up earlier this year but its existence was only reported this week, in a documentary aired by state broadcaster CCTV. It appears to be modelled on the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, the US body set up in 1957 to identify and nurture technology with national security applications. (Financial Times)
Learn More...

 

---

 

​​​Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, located in the western reaches of California's Mojave Desert, is a wondrous place when it comes to military aviation and pretty much everything associated with it—and it still holds some secrets. From massive, sound-stage like missile seeker testing facilities, to rocket sleds, to electronic warfare ranges and a runway dedicated to unmanned aircraft operations, NAWS China Lake offers militaries and their associated industry partners from around the world a huge menu of testing capabilities. But above all else, NAWS China Lake's expansive and diverse set of live-fire ranges are truly a national treasure. (The Drive)
Learn More...