[Goose]

Interesting article about a USAF electronic warfare unit which helped to reprogram EW systems on F16s donated to Europe "to be effective against evolving Russian threats in the spectrum"

https://www.dvidshub.net/news/479401/dom...nian-f-16s

Pretty interesting. I am glad somebody is at least paying attention to the requirement to program the EW systems. Previously the "owners" of the aircraft would do it. The new owners, Ukraine, obviously don't have the expertise and equipment. Somebody else will need to do it, and it appears that body has been found. A matter of concern is that there is no reference to validation testing. These programming changes are normally flown against simulators at Eglin (and elsewhere) to verify that the correct ECM actions are selected in response to a "real" threat environment. . There are all kinds of things that can go wrong and it can take significant testing to figure out why the ECM gear is doing the "wrong thing". This would be especially true for an EW suite that was unfamiliar to those doing the programming.

In somewhat related news and under the category of "what was old is new again", look at https://www.robins.af.mil/News/Article-D...obins-afb/. Warner-Robbins has always been heavily involved in the USAF jamming design and validation activities. Lots of that got shut down with the advent of "Stealth" and budget woes. It would appear that is being reversed. Where the money is coming from is an issue. However, looking at https://www.350sww.af.mil/ they are hiring. I can assure you that Georgia Tech is licking their chops.

[Goose]

Interesting article about a USAF electronic warfare unit which helped to reprogram EW systems on F16s donated to Europe "to be effective against evolving Russian threats in the spectrum"

https://www.dvidshub.net/news/479401/dom...nian-f-16s

Pretty interesting. I am glad somebody is at least paying attention to the requirement to program the EW systems. Previously the "owners" of the aircraft would do it. The new owners, Ukraine, obviously don't have the expertise and equipment. Somebody else will need to do it, and it appears that body has been found. A matter of concern is that there is no reference to validation testing. These programming changes are normally flown against simulators at Eglin (and elsewhere) to verify that the correct ECM actions are selected in response to a "real" threat environment. . There are all kinds of things that can go wrong and it can take significant testing to figure out why the ECM gear is doing the "wrong thing". This would be especially true for an EW suite that was unfamiliar to those doing the programming.

In somewhat related news and under the category of "what was old is new again", look at https://www.robins.af.mil/News/Article-D...obins-afb/. Warner-Robbins has always been heavily involved in the USAF jamming design and validation activities. Lots of that got shut down with the advent of "Stealth" and budget woes. It would appear that is being reversed. Where the money is coming from is an issue. However, looking at https://www.350sww.af.mil/ they are hiring. I can assure you that Georgia Tech is licking their chops.