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31 Aug 17. Sweden, Denmark team to counter Russian cyber threat. The defense ministers of Sweden and Denmark say they would boost their military cooperation to counter the threat of Russian military buildup, cyberattacks and false news.
Peter Hultqvist and Claus Hjort Frederiksen said in a joint statement titled “Russian fake news: A danger to our countries” that misinformation from Russia made their nations “increasingly unsafe.” They said Thursday they would increase hybrid warfare cooperation, but stopped short of giving details. The two ministers from the neighboring Scandinavian countries cited an increased presence of Russian military vessels in the nearby Baltic Sea region, which has also seen several reports of airspace violations by Russian military aircraft. (Source: Defense News)
31 Aug 17. Electronic Warfare Aircraft Contribute to Defeat ISIS. Often when people think about how air power is employed in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, thoughts may turn to cargo aircraft delivering critical supplies and personnel to the front lines or bombs being dropped on targets.
Yet, the Air Force has the non-kinetic ability to disrupt enemy communications on the ground and therefore turn the tables on the battlefield.
The 386th Air Expeditionary Wing has the capability to deliver decisive airpower not only through its C-130 airlift mission, but through the highly sought after non-kinetic ability of the EC-130H Compass Call aircraft operated by the 43rd Expeditionary Electronic Combat Squadron. These heavily modified airframes are responsible for a highly specialized, unique mission: electronic warfare.
Precision Electronic Warfare Capability
“The mission of the 43rd EECS is to deliver precision electronic attack effects to deny or degrade enemy command and control, protect friendly forces and to achieve the combatant commander’s objectives to defeat our adversaries anytime, anywhere in the joint operations area,” said Air Force Capt. Joshua, a 43rd EECS electronic warfare officer.
The Compass Call aircraft is an airborne tactical weapon system that uses noise jamming to disrupt enemy command-and-control communications and deny time-critical coordination essential for enemy force management.
“The 43rd EECS provides the Combined Forces Air Component commander, or CFACC, with a critical non-kinetic option,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Matthew Cunningham, an EC-130H aircraft commander. “EC-130H employment of airborne electronic attacks functions as a force multiplier by degrading ISIS command and control. All military operations, to include those of our adversaries, require clear lines of communication between commanders and their forces. When we deny, disrupt or degrade these lines of communications, we reduce the adversary’s battlefield effectiveness and give friendly forces a decisive advantage in individual engagements.”
EC-130H crews are currently performing tactical command, control and communications countermeasures in support of U.S. and coalition forces throughout the U.S. Air Forces Central Command area of responsibility from the massive retaking of Mosul, Iraq to smaller, single-event missions, Joshua said.
The desired effects provided by the EC-130H’s unique communications jamming capability make the aircraft and its crew a low-density, high-demand asset in the Operation Inherent Resolve battlespace. The autonomous electronic attack capability is unique to Compass Call aircraft and cannot be duplicated by any other airborne communications jamming assets.
“Compass Call is the Air Force’s premier electronic attack platform,” Cunningham said. “It is the CFACC’s only autonomous communications jamming, electronic attack asset. This unique autonomy is attributed to a crew of about a dozen highly-specialized, competent airmen.”
Team Effort
The EC-130H’s flight deck personnel r