Electronic Mission Aircraft

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E-8C Joint STARS
EA-6B Prowler
Electronic Warfare

The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponent an advantage in the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum and ensure friendly, unimpeded access to the EM spectrum portion of the information environment. Electronic warfare aircraft are used to keep airspaces friendly, and send critical information to anyone who needs it. They are often called "The Eye in the Sky."

Electronic Warfare can be applied from air, sea, land, and space by manned and unmanned systems, and is employed to support military operations involving various levels of detection, denial, deception, disruption, degradation, protection, and destruction.

Military operations are executed in an information environment increasingly complicated by the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS). The EMS portion of the information environment is referred to as the electromagnetic environment (EME). Today, electromagnetic (EM) devices are increasingly used alone and in networks by both civilian and military organizations and individuals for intelligence, communications, navigation, sensing, information storage, and processing, as well as a variety of other purposes. The increasing portability and affordability of sophisticated EM equipment guarantees that the EME in which military forces operate will become more complex in the future. The recognized need for military forces to have unimpeded access to and use of the EME creates vulnerabilities and opportunities for electronic warfare (EW)in support of military operations.

Electronic Warfare includes three major subdivisions: electronic attack (EA), electronic protection (EP), and electronic warfare support (ES). EA involves the use of electromagnetic energy, directed energy, or antiradiation weapons to attack personnel, facilities, or equipment with the intent of degrading, neutralizing, or destroying enemy combat capability and is considered a form of fires. EP involves actions taken to protect personnel, facilities, and equipment from any effects of friendly or enemy use of the electromagnetic spectrum that degrade, neutralize, or destroy friendly combat capability. ES is the subdivision of EWinvolving actions tasked by, or under direct control of, an operational commander to search for, intercept, identify, and locate or localize sources of intentional and unintentional radiated EM energy for the purpose of immediate threat recognition, targeting, planning, and conduct of future operations.

E-3 Sentry

E-3 Sentry is an American military airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft that provides all-weather surveillance, command, control and communications, to the United States, United Kingdom, France, Saudi Arabia, and NATO air defense forces. The E-3 Sentry is a modified Boeing 707-320B Advanced commercial airframe. Modifications included a rotating radar dome, single-point ground, and air refueling points, and a bail-out chute.

E-8C Joint Stars

The E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, or Joint STARS, is an airborne battle management, command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platform. Its primary mission is to provide theater ground and air commanders with ground surveillance to support attack operations and targeting that contributes to the delay, disruption and destruction of enemy forces.