electronic warfare

electronic warfare

[i‚lek′trän·ik ′wȯr‚fer]

(electronics)

Military action involving the use of electromagnetic energy to determine, exploit, reduce, or prevent hostile use of the electromagnetic spectrum, and action which retains friendly use of electromagnetic spectrum.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

electronic warfare (EW)

Any military action involving the use of electromagnetic and directed energy to control the electromagnetic spectrum or to attack the enemy. The three major subdivisions within electronic warfare are electronic attack, electronic protection, and electronic warfare support. See also electronic attack.

An Illustrated Dictionary of Aviation Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

electronic warfare

(1) Aiding a war effort by intercepting as well as disrupting the enemy's communications. Electronic warfare also deals with direct attacks on enemy personnel using high-intensity radio signals.

(2) Using highly computerized robotic equipment such as drones in combat or for stealth attacks. See UAV.

Copyright © 1981-2025 by The Computer Language Company Inc. All Rights reserved. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Electronic Warfare

 

measures taken to obtain information on the operating parameters and location of enemy electronic equipment (electronic reconnaissance), to impair or disrupt the operation of such equipment (electronic counter-measures), and to protect one’s own equipment from similar reconnaissance and countermeasures on the part of the enemy (electronic counter-countermeasures).

The mission of electronic reconnaissance is to detect enemy electronic equipment by its emission, determine its coordinates, and determine and analyze the characteristics of the signals it emits. This information is used in military intelligence and in the organization of electronic countermeasures.

REFERENCES

Schlesinger, R. Radioelektronnaia voina. Moscow, 1963. (Translated from English.)
Atrazhev, M. P., V. A. Il’in, and N. P. Mar’in. Bor’ba s radioelektronnymi sredstvami. Moscow, 1972.
Palii, A. I. Radioelektronnaia bor’ba. Moscow, 1974.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.