Thales UK s heritage in Electronic Warfare August 2018

Transcription

1 Thales UK s heritage in Electronic Warfare August 2018

2 Thales is a global leader in Electronic Warfare (EW), with systems all over the world that are helping to protect the military and the public, enhance situational awareness and provide the strategic advantage. This briefing explores the historic milestones, that have influenced advancements in Thales world-leading technology. Stimulus of war - World War II On the evening of the 2 August 1939, the German airship Graf Zeppelin II (LZ130), prowled along the British coast, secretly gathering intelligence on whether Britain was using the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) for communications, navigation and radar. Zeppelin was the world s first airborne electronic intelligence collector, searching the radio spectrum for potential enemy signals, as a prelude to countering them. Since the mid 1930 s Britain had been secretly harnessing the EMS to develop the first early warning radar network, in fear of the threat that German Air Force could pose, should a future war erupt. Britain s newly erected Chain Home radar network was reporting Zeppelin s every move but it didn t go undetected. The crew of 48 radio operators aboard the Zeppelin picked up radar signals from Britain s Chain Home system, but in a stroke of luck, discredited the signals. The catastrophic battle of World War Two had not yet begun, but the war to win the airwaves had started. On the 1 Sept 1939, less than one month after Zeppelin returned from her trip to the British Isles, Germany invaded Poland. World War Two erupted. Germany and England both entered the war believing that they possessed in radar a unique advantage over the other, but neither foresaw the profound effect the scientific breakthrough would have in years to come. Britain s first tentative steps in this new form of EW proved vital in winning the Battle of Britain in Over the course of four months a swarm of over 2500 German planes plagued the coasts of Britain. Nazi Germany was confident that the size of their fleet would guarantee victory, but unbeknown to them, Chain Home systems were tracking their movements as they formed over France. This intelligence gave Royal Air Force (RAF) commanders time to put counter measures in place so that they could defend against Germany s relentless attacks - firmly establishing radar as a must-have military technology. Thales is a world leader in electronic warfare. Our pioneers DECCA, MEL, Racal and Thorn EMI, merged their expertise to form Thales in During this period of dramatic and early breakthroughs in EW expertise, EMI played a central role in the development of radar with a team led by Alan Dower Blumlein. The radar that Blumlein played a critical part in developing, was fitted to RAF Bomber Command, Royal Navy and Coastal Command aircraft to help identify targets. High resolution centimetric radar could detect even small objects, such as the periscope or snorkel of a submerged submarine, making it a highly efficient tool. Thales UK s heritage in Electronic Warfare Page 2 of 6

3 In 1942 a national tragedy occurred when Blumlein and 10 other men died in a plane crash, when they were testing the top-secret equipment. Blumlein was aged just 38. It is only recently that the public have become aware of the fundamental role Blumlein played in winning the war, as Winston Churchill placed an embargo on the incident to avoid details of the top-secret radar becoming public knowledge. EW also played a significant role in D-Day. The Royal Navy and Air Force carried out various diversions and radar countermeasures to confuse the German Army so that troops could safely land in Normandy. Operation Glimmer, Titanic and Taxable, which involved the infamous 617 Dambusters Squadron used a combination of distraction tactics and counter measures such as dropping chaff and burning dummy parachutes, to give the impression that men lay hidden on the ground, ready for action. At the same time, Operation Mandrel created a jamming screen using EW radar jammers to hide the real invasion fleet from German radar. The 1950s and 60s game-changing IFM Early EW let us know that something was there, but it gave little or no indication of what it was, let alone what it was doing. In other words, it gave locational information, but the rest of the picture had to come from other intelligence sources. As things developed rapidly during and after World War II, EW became more sophisticated, giving its user communities clearer sight of what ships and aircraft were in range, and based on the signals they emitted what their role was. EW covers all electronic means used to listen to, confuse, redirect and harm the enemy and their plans, while keeping your own intentions, movements and capabilities from his/ her reach. EW is not limited to radio or radio detection and range (radar) frequencies, but includes infrared, visible, ultraviolet and other less used portions of the spectrum. In these early stages of EW, there were not many people harnessing the EMS, so an operator s oscilloscope was fairly easy to read. Operators could track signals simply by manually tuning in and identifying their sources by listening. However, with traffic on the frequencies increasing, and counter-detection technology fast catching up with detection capabilities, manual tuning began to struggle. Breakthroughs achieved by MEL in the development of Instantaneous Frequency Measurement receivers (IFM) during the Cold War changed all that in the mid 1960s... The IFM allowed users to see signals across a broad band which meant that rather than tuning into hearing certain signals, you could hear everything that was out there and listen to the signals simultaneously. Visual displays of the signals were also gradually brought in. This was a huge boost for EW and IFM remains integral to most Electronic Support Measure (ESM) technologies being commissioned today. Thales UK s heritage in Electronic Warfare Page 3 of 6

4 The 1970s and 80s computers and deinterleaving come into play With computerisation in the late 1970s, analysis of signals and frequencies came on in leaps and bounds. Computers were able to do some of the analysis that had formerly always been done by operators and a library of signals could be developed, which made it easier to attribute signals. This marked the beginnings of automation a trend that has continued. The development of deinterleaving in the early 80s led to EW reaching another significant milestone. Deinterleaving was a big step, as it meant being able to separate radar pulses from the growing crowd of signals being emitted. Operators could identify what signals were coming from where, which made it much easier to cope with the growing volume and complexity of signals visible on the spectrum. Although still very basic in comparison to today s advanced systems, the deinterleaving capabilities suddenly created far clearer situational awareness. This was to prove crucial in such operational contexts as the Cod War, the Falklands and the first Gulf War. However, it wasn t always plain sailing. On the 4 May 1982 a young EW officer on HMS Sheffield blew his whistle, to declare an incoming Argentinian aircraft, yet no one in the operations room responded to his call. Six minutes passed, and the officer blew his whistle again. EW had detected an Exocet missile headed directly for them - yet once again, no one responded to his warning. To this day, EW operators have always blown a whistle to signal the detection of an incoming threat, because a whistle is not reliant on mechanics and so it is less likely to fail. Yet, even whistles are fallible. The huge secrecy surrounding EW, and a lack of understanding about the mysterious technology, meant that it wasn t until the navigator of the ship could physically see the missile hurtling towards them that the threat became reality. HMS Sheffield was the first British warship lost in action since WW2. It still lays at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, along with 20 men who were unable to be saved from the burning wreckage. For the 15 to 20 years that followed the Falklands there was huge investment in EW The tragic event changed the history of EW forever. For the next 15 to 20 years that followed the Falklands there was huge investment in EW. Policy also changed so that any Navy Vessel that suspected it might be under missile attack would trigger defensive manoeuvres, such as turning toward the threat, accelerating at maximum speed and firing chaff. Six days after HMS Sheffield was targeted, there was a multiple attack on HMS Hermes, but neighbouring ships HMS Exeter and Birmingham, used EW to counter those missile firings - exploiting the electromagnetic spectrum to protect the Hermes. Thales UK s heritage in Electronic Warfare Page 4 of 6

5 Into the 90s narrowband digital and satellites The 1990s brought more exciting developments as the digitisation of EW capabilities began. This meant being able to split the band into a number of narrow, more manageable chunks, and to choose how to make this split, according to what you wanted surveillance to focus on. The development came at a time when the volume of signals across the frequency range was beginning to make analogue EW far harder and time-consuming. Gulf War One began in 1990, and digitised EW systems developed by companies Thales now owns featured aboard Royal Navy vessels supporting American offensives in the northern Gulf off the Kuwait coast. These systems surveyed the skies and kept American ships safe. The US was highly reliant on UK EW, and mightily impressed by it. At the time, they had nothing remotely comparable. Even after Gulf War One, with huge oil embargoes on Iraq and Iran, the UK s digital EW systems monitored the Shatt al-arab waterway for illicit movement of oil. However, once again, exogenous circumstances put pressure on EW to develop. Increasing levels of civilian and military signal incursions visible on the spectrum meant that operators were struggling to cope with the number of signals. The analogue equipment was also starting to suffer from saturation. The profound levels of interference meant that it became impossible to say for 100% what was happening and EW was no longer being fully trusted by the command. Something had to change to ensure that the lessons learnt in 1982 did not become obsolete. Digitising the spectrum appeared to be the only answer. A new millennium, and new possibilities with wideband digital Wideband digital capabilities developed by Thales post-2000 represent the company s unique selling point in EW. To this day, no one else has the depth and breadth of capability and expertise. At the turn of the century Thales experimented with narrowband digital options, however, having some digital channels was found to be not very convenient or efficient, so Thales began to explore digitising the entire spectrum. The Daphne research and development programme Thales undertook with the UK Ministry of Defence was a bold leap into something no one even knew was possible: Full-Spectrum Wideband Digital for EW. With Gulf War Two looming large, the UK Navy necessitated it have Thales latest wideband digital capability. DART, a Technical Demonstrator Programme (TDP) for wideband digital EW developed through the Daphne programme, featured aboard Type 45 Destroyers heading for the Gulf. They were a huge success and prompted a production order for the entire surface fleet in Today, Thales is nearing completion of a full refit programme of Landing Platform Docks, Type 23 and Type 45 fleet with their latestfull digital radar electronic support measures system VIGILE-D. Thales UK s heritage in Electronic Warfare Page 5 of 6

6 What next? Thales is undeniably a global leader in EW systems, with pioneering technology and systems all over the world, that are helping to enhance situational awareness and provide strategic advantage in a range of contexts with the main aim of protecting the military and public. As technology grows increasingly sophisticated and new threats attempt to threaten unimpeded access to the electromagnetic spectrum, Thales relentless dedication to partnerships in research and development in this constantly evolving field will support peace and safety wherever possible. Thales UK s heritage in Electronic Warfare Page 6 of 6