Electronic Warfare: Protecting and Enabling our Forces
Remarks by Congressmen Joseph R. Pitts
IDGA Aircraft Survivability Conference
April 28, 2004

Good morning.  

I want to thank the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement (IDGA) for sponsoring this conference on aircraft survivability.  I had the honor of joining you last year at this conference and it is a pleasure to return. 

Last year when I spoke at this conference, we were celebrating a very swift and successful victory in Iraq.  Since then, so much has happened and there is still more that needs to be done.

Saddam’s reign of terror is over.  His regime has been scattered.  Saddam has been captured.  And the Iraqi people are on the verge of forming a new nation of freedom, democracy, and, hopefully, unity.  We are not there yet, but so much progress has been made.  The overwhelming majority of the Iraqi people continue to celebrate in the streets – thanking coalition forces for freeing them and giving them hope.  If you read some of the papers you might draw a different conclusion, but the truth is that our operations in Iraq have been, and will continue to be, successful.

But we are not done.  Military operations will continue in Iraq and Afghanistan for the foreseeable future until the remaining pockets of resistance are defeated; stability is realized; security is enforced; and, in Afghanistan, Bin Laden is captured or killed.

This morning, though, we are here to discuss aircraft survivability.  The purpose of the conference is to look at this issue from many different perspectives.  I’m here to discuss the role that electronic warfare (EW) plays in aircraft survivability and how the Congressional EW Working Group, which I founded and co-chair, addresses this issue.

First, I want to provide some thoughts on aircraft survivability as it relates to our armed forces and coalition forces.

Second, I want to address aircraft survivability as it relates to our commercial aircraft.

Over the past couple of years, through Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom, one of the lessons we have learned is the value and effectiveness of air power projection

Central to this, of course, is aircraft survivability.  This may seem like common sense – and it is – but, we often over look these obvious lessons.

As I mentioned last year, aircraft survivability is like a chair supported by many different legs.  In this case, the chair is supported by training, technology, communication, and mission capability.  Our armed forces count on the stability and reliability of this “chair.”

Aircraft survivability serves two primary functions:

First, it protects our force, both from enemy attack and from fratricide.  It saves lives.

Second, it enables our force to accomplish its overall mission.  Aircraft survivability leads to air superiority, which is the first goal in any military operation.  U.S. air power is primed to gain air superiority in the first 48-72 hours.  We didn’t even need that long in Iraq or Afghanistan, but not all our potential adversaries are as vulnerable.

Control the skies and you can obtain battlespace supremacy, which allows you to detect, identify, track, and destroy any threat that may stand in the way of mission success.

So, in reality, aircraft survivability is the anchor or the centerpiece of military operations.  Without air power we don’t have success.

With this said, how then do we ensure aircraft survivability?

I want to focus on a key element of aircraft survivability – electronic warfare.

To be sure, EW is central to so much of our military capability, but how is it central to aircraft survivability.

There are three main subdivisions of EW that impact aircraft survivability.

First, there is electronic attack.  Too often, EW is narrowly defined to make it synonymous with electronic attack – blinding the enemy, including the use of radar or communications jamming. 

But EW is much more.

There is also electronic protection, which employs systems, countermeasures, decoys and stealth to defeat an enemy’s attack.

And finally, there is electronic support, which in many ways is the foundation of and starting point for all of EW.

If electronic warfare is the control and manipulation of the electromagnetic spectrum, and the spectrum is the environment in which information, data, and energy lives, then the collection, interpretation and communication of this information enables the other elements of EW.

There are too many EW capabilities to discuss how each plays a role in aircraft survivability, but a good case study is the EA-6B Prowler.

The EW Working Group has been working over the years to ensure the Prowler is mission capable and ready to meet the needs of our armed forces. 

The Prowler is the only remaining dedicated electronic attack platform.  Over the years, the capability that the Prowler brings to the table has been reaffirmed.  It is essential.

It’s electronic attack mission protects and enables our military – both air and ground forces – by controlling the electromagnetic spectrum and securing the battlespace.

However, as we are seeing in Iraq, its mission is continuing to expand.  It is playing a more active role in aiding our ground forces in Afghanistan and Iraq in pursuit of the enemy.

We must continue to support the Prowler and other EW platforms, such as the Compass Call.  If we don’t, it will be more difficult to project air power.

With this said about aircraft survivability from a military perspective, I would be remiss if I didn’t address this issue from a commercial perspective.

In light of 9/11, it is no secret that terrorists will stop at nothing to bring down the U.S. and her allies – those who stand for freedom and democracy.

We are an open nation; therefore, we are a nation with much vulnerability.  One vulnerability that must be addressed is the MANPAD threat to commercial aircraft.  MANPADs are widely circulated and inexpensive.  Terrorist cells have them and can easily get more if they want.  And, it may be only a matter of time until a terrorist attempts to shoot down a U.S. commercial aircraft.

Such an attempt would be deadly.  Not only would there potentially be a significant loss of life, but the impact on our economy and the confidence of the American people would be devastating – even if the attempt fails.

It is said that terrorists want to kill a few, hurt many, and scare everyone.

However, 9/11 showed the terrorists’ capacity to kill even on a large scale.  Even if an attempt to shoot down a commercial aircraft failed, the consequences would be staggering. 

Are we prepared?  The short answer is “no.”

But we are beginning to move toward an appropriate response.  As you know, DHS is currently evaluating several competing proposals, including lasers and flares.  Each response has it positives and negatives.

But one thing is for certain; no one solution is a panacea.  We must balance timeliness, with safety, capability, reliability, and fiscal responsibility.  While you cannot put a price tag on human life, we must not be careless with the path we choose.

I believe that we must continue to push forward, but that any solution should be multi-layered.  We must equip our planes with an effective countermeasure system.

But no one system can defeat all threats today and in the future.  So our response must continue to evolve.

We must also improve airport security and surveillance.  We must better guard the perimeter of the most vulnerable airports – whether with the National Guard or another reliable security force.

In the coming weeks, the Working Group will take a closer look at this threat and our response.  I encourage your participation in this discussion.  It is a very important issue that we must address.

In closing, the Working Group will continue to partner with the defense community at-large to raise overall awareness about the importance of EW and address the most pressing EW needs facing our warfighter.

I encourage your participation in the EW Working Group.

Again, I appreciate the opportunity to talk with you today about the importance of aircraft survivability.

I look forward to hearing from you and working with you to ensure that our armed forces and our security at home is not taken for granted.

Thank you.

Electronic Warfare Working Group

Congressman Joe Pitts, Founder and Chairman

420 Cannon House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

202 225-2411 phone    202 225-2013 fax