AOC 2021, the Association of Old Crow’s International Symposium & Convention, brings together the full spectrum of people working in electromagnetic spectrum operations.

Registration is now open for AOC2021! We look forward to having you join us again this year, live and in-person! 

Make sure to book your room at this year's host hotel, the newly renovated, upscale Courtyard/Residence Inn by Marriott Downtown/Convention Center! 

SUPPORT OUR MISSION • INFLUENCE OUR MISSION • LEARN OUR MISSION

Learn more and get registered at 58.crows.org.

Booth Space Selling Out!
Learn more about exhibitor benefits, rates and how to reserve your booth at 58.crows.org. You can also contact Sean Fitzgerald at Fitzgerald@crows.org or (703) 549-1600 x222 for more information.

Please join us in celebrating this year’s award winners for their exemplary service to our community! Take some time to see our winners and read about the awards they won.

Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP): Science, Strategy, Politics
Thursday, July 29, 2021 | 2:00 - 3:00 PM EDT
Presented by Dr. Peter Vincent Pry

On March 26, 2019, the White House issued the unprecedented Executive Order on Coordinating National Resilience to Electromagnetic Pulses. In an unprecedented move, Congress incorporated the EMP Executive Order into the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act, giving it the force of law.

The White House and Congress are responding to warnings from the nation’s foremost scientific and strategic experts that an EMP generated by the sun or mankind poses an existential threat to electronic civilization and the survival of the American people.

Yet most U.S. government officials and the general public still lack an in-depth understanding of the EMP threat.

Register now.

Be sure to check out the full 2021 schedule to sign up for more webinars.

Reminder: The Sea-Air-Space Conference and Exposition, presented by the Navy League of the United States, officially begins Monday, Aug. 2 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, National Harbor, Maryland! 

Stop by our booth in the Potomac Lobby to learn more about exhibiting, registration and sponsorship opportunites at AOC 2021. 

Direct Energy Weapons
August 9-25, 2021 | Mondays & Wednesdays | 1:00 - 4:00 PM EDT

This course introduces students to the fundamentals of direct energy weapons (DEW) across the electromagnetic spectrum. The goal is to provide an understanding of the operation of laser and high-power microwave DEWs in military applications, including their design trade-offs, and target effects.

The course starts with an introduction to DEWs and the physics they are based upon in operation, atmospheric propagation and target effects. It then moves into several sessions on specific forms of DEW, including lasers, high-power microwaves and particle beams. These concepts are then tied together with target tracking in DEWs to explore DEW design at the system level. The course concludes with a session on how DEWs affect their targets and how these effects can be modelled.

The discussion of various DEWs will be reinforced with modelling demonstrations in MATLAB to illustrate how DEWs operate. For more ambitious students, optional labs will be provided to explore these concepts in a modelling environment, with a focus on understanding the design trade-offs and target effects. Register now.

The Echo
The story of electromagnetic spectrum operations (EMSO) continues with the birth of radar. With wireless communications paving the way, these technologies led to the early use of electromagnetic warfare from World War I through the US entering World War II, following the attack on Pearl Harbor. In this episode, Mr. Ray Chase from the Information Age Learning Center and Mr. Mike Simmons from the National Electronics Museum share the story about early radar development and electromagnetic warfare in the early 20th century. Since the dawn of the Electronic Age and the years following World War I, new advances came from Marconi’s invention of wireless communications. Radio jamming, direction-finding stations and air-to-ground communications displayed major advantages for reconnaissance. But as we find out in today’s story, these advances would come to serve an even greater purpose in the Second World War.

To learn more about today’s topics or to stay updated on EMSO and EW developments, visit our website.

The AOC thanks BAE Systems for sponsoring this episode.

*Trigger warning, sounds of war in episode.

Start listening now!

The Association of Old Crows is pleased to provide its online Career Center — the premier resource to connect career opportunities with highly qualified EW, EMSO, CEMA, SIGINT, ELINT & IO talent. You can access the AOC Career Center at https://careers.crows.org.

Featured Jobs:

- Senior Engineer - Platform Architect – General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. –  San Diego, CA, United States
- Senior EW/SIGINT Systems Engineer – General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. –  San Diego, CA, United States
- Senior Project Engineer, RF Sensors – General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. –  San Diego, CA, United States

As the U.S. Air Force restructures its aircraft inventory to compete with China, the service is taking calculated risks in its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft portfolio, a top general said last week. (Defense News)

In mid-2021, NATO warships from several countries assembled in the Black Sea for joint training exercises with Ukrainian naval forces. Such joint training makes it easier for Ukraine to reach its goal of becoming a NATO member, especially when Russia violently opposes it. (StrategyPage)

The Air Force and Army are rapidly pushing to expand development of directed energy weapons beyond the high-priority counter-drone mission, and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is looking to the future of DE weapons in a new paper titled “Directed Energy Futures 2060.” (Breaking Defense)