Dome over the Ministry of Defense
New digital technologies can significantly reduce the spatial, temporal and informational gap between military units and government. A remote contactless impact on the entire depth of the operational construction of the enemy becomes the main way to achieve the goal of the operation. What is the specific use of EW in these conditions? This and other questions of the Military Industrial Courier were answered by the Chief of EW troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Major General Yury Lastochkin.
- Yuri Illarionovich, what, in your opinion, is characterized by the current stage of development of electronic warfare, which areas are particularly relevant?
- The introduction of modern radio-electronic technologies in the control systems of the forces and means of the Armed Forces of leading foreign countries is an integral part of the implementation of the concept of fast global strike. This, like the Doctrine of Combat Operations adopted in the US Armed Forces in a single information space, significantly increases the level of threats to the military security of the Russian Federation and radically changes the nature and content of the armed struggle.
The enhancement of the role of EW is determined by the very task of disorganizing command and control and weapons enemy by electronic warfare. We must clearly realize that a new area of confrontation has emerged - the information and telecommunications space. The range of tasks for EW troops is significantly expanding. The effect of the use of promising EW tools in terms of effectiveness is comparable with high-precision fire damage. The conceptual documents in the field of electronic warfare, approved by the President of the Russian Federation, are aimed at this. The military-political leadership of the country attaches great importance to improving the EW system as one of the most important elements of ensuring national security. Today, electronic warfare is the most complex intellectual component, especially in hybrid conflicts. This in turn requires the creation of fundamentally new means capable of effectively neutralizing the technological and information advantage of the enemy.
- We have the basis of the combat component of the electronic warfare system are EW troops, created in 2009 year. What are they?
- Our troops are designed for electronic destruction of enemy targets and integrated monitoring of measures to counter reconnaissance equipment and the electronic defense of their troops. They consist of government bodies, formations, military units and subunits of various subordination. The EW forces and facilities are part of the strategic system of radio interference, the Unified System for Integrated Technical Control (CPC), sets of parts of the EW military districts, associations and formations of types and branches of the armed forces of the Russian Federation.
At present, the main forces and assets are concentrated in the Ground Forces, HVs and Navy, which form inter-specific groups of military districts. In the Airborne Forces, we are represented by EW units in airborne units. In the Strategic Missile Forces - CPC units in each rocket army, division, on the range. Since 2014, the tasks of duty on EW are being solved by forces and means of radio suppression in districts.
- What are the priorities for the development of the EW weapons system?
- Improvement of EW equipment must be balanced. There is a traditional approach. It involves the expansion of the range of objects of impact, reducing the type of EW facilities, unification, increased protection from high-precision weapons, mobility and modernization potential. Innovatively, I would highlight five areas:
deploying controlled fields of radio suppression on the territory of the enemy on the basis of unified small-sized reconnaissance and jamming modules delivered by the UAV;
the creation of means of destruction by powerful electromagnetic radiation based on the use of specialized ammunition and mobile systems;
development of software technology impact on highly organized management systems by violating the availability, integrity and confidentiality of information;
the introduction of tools to simulate a false radio-electronic situation and the disinformation of enemy control systems and weapons;
increasing the level of information security of the EW management bodies (locations), improving decision-making support algorithms at the expense of a unified management loop of forces and assets.
The implementation of these directions of development of the weapon system will lead to an increase in the volume of tasks solved by EW.
- It is in combat conditions, as I understand it. And what tasks do EW troops solve in peacetime, including your command?
- The Office of the Chief of the EW RF Armed Forces is entrusted with the function of the main radio frequency body of the Ministry of Defense of Russia, which solves a wide range of tasks. These include the provision of electromagnetic compatibility of radio electronic equipment, international legal protection of military electronic equipment (RES), planning of the use of radio frequencies and the conversion of the radio frequency spectrum.
The urgency of these tasks is determined primarily by the fact that advanced foreign radio technologies are being increasingly introduced in the country in the frequency bands historically used by military and government radio-electronic facilities. There are reasons for the appearance of unintentional interference with the RES. The consequence may be the failure of the solution of tasks to ensure the security of the state.
Specialists of the EW EWF advocate for the interests of the Russian Ministry of Defense at the international and national level, participating in the work of the International Telecommunication Union (world and regional radiocommunication conferences), the State Commission on Radio Frequencies, and other organizations that determine the development of radio communications in the world and with us.
To monitor the use of the radio frequency spectrum and ensure the electromagnetic compatibility of radio-electronic equipment of the state and military administration, CPC units are engaged on an ongoing basis. Special attention is given to significant state events, such as the APEC Summit, St. Petersburg International Economic Forums, XXII Olympic and XI Paralympic Winter Games, during which issues were resolved in conjunction with counter-terrorism tasks.
- Recently, a lot of talk about listening to phones, computer attacks, hacking email and other methods of stealing confidential information. How does the Defense Ministry solve the problem of countering foreign technical intelligence services?
- New complexes are being developed and put into operation to protect information on the most informative physical fields of its leakage through technical channels. An example is the Zaslon-EW complex, which was developed in the interests of EW troops and successfully passed in 2016 year. It is designed to ensure that all possible channels of leakage of confidential information are blocked and that a “dome of information impenetrability” is created above the objects of the Ministry of Defense of Russia. The product is fully automated, has a flexible architecture, provides control of all types of mobile communication and data transmission on the territory of protected objects.
- Such tasks are fulfilled in the exercises?
- The number of special exercises conducted by subunits and parts of EW over the past four years has doubled. Special attention is paid to the objective control of their effectiveness. For this purpose, test facilities of the Research and Testing Institute (electronic warfare) of the VUNC VVA Air Force and the Interspecific Center for Training and Combat Use of EW Troops are involved.
Practical testing of promising ways of applying the latest EW tools was possible to organize during the special research exercise of EW troops of the RF Armed Forces Electron-2016. Imagine that events of this magnitude have not been held at a strategic level since 1979. For the first time, the troops worked out in practice the creation of an EW grouping in a strategic direction, ensured the conduct of military-technical experiments prepared by specialists of the Research and Development Department of the Ministry of Defense. The most important result was the recommendations to the military authorities on the organization of interaction, proposals in the statutes.
- The experience of Syria has shown that very high efficiency in conducting reconnaissance and the application of point fire strikes today demonstrate multifunctional UAVs. What can oppose this threat? What is the level of automation of combat control processes?
- In the armed forces, more than 30 states are in operation, UAVs of more than 500 types are in operation or created. Countering them in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is carried out using air defense and electronic warfare. But today, in fact, the only way to effectively combat small-sized UAVs is by means of EW.
The automated control systems developed and adopted for the supply of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation significantly increase the use of EW combat capabilities by integrating radio-electronic data in a single information space and significantly reducing control cycles. I would say that along with the air defense forces, we are leaders in this field.
The Situation Center is deployed and functioning in the Office of the Chief of the EW Troops. The automation of control in EW connections has been completed, that is, it is now through - from top managers to executive elements. In the coming years, we plan to complete the integration of EW resources into the Unified Information Space of the RF Armed Forces and thereby ensure the possibility of using all data on the operational and radio-electronic environment that the military authorities have and the federal executive structures that interact with them.
- Russian "defense" since 2014, under the sanctions. How do you assess the real possibilities of defense enterprises for the production of EW equipment in the light of presidential decrees on the achievement of 70-percentage equipment of troops with modern weapons by the 2020 year?
- Sanctions hit almost all defense companies. However, to date, the negative impact on the development and production of serial equipment, I believe, is practically reduced to a minimum. The problem of import substitution is successfully solved.
Over the years, stable cooperation has developed in two main areas: development, serial production of EW equipment and troop control systems. The enterprises that are engaged in this are united in two concerns: “Constellation” and “Radio-electronic technologies”. Both integrated structures are developing dynamically, finding non-standard technical solutions, introducing and mastering new technologies, presenting the initiative to the military. All this, as well as the successful implementation of the state-of-the-art defense and state defense orders over the years, suggests that by the 2020, the EW troops will be equipped with modern and promising models of weapons of at least 70 percent.
The presence of two integrated structures in the Rab cooperation does not mean that other enterprises wishing to create high-performance equipment cannot be its developers and serial manufacturers. A vivid example is Special Technology Center LLC, which implements a number of innovative options for the development of a weapon system and presents its initiatively developed samples for trial operation.
- If we talk about promising products, what are the results and what are the problems?
- State tests, as it were, throw a bridge between the activities of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, the military-industrial complex enterprises and the exploitation of military facilities in the army, and combat work. Over the past three years, more than 30 of various types of EW equipment for efficiency (products Borisoglebsk-2, Lorandit-M, Palantin, Bylina, etc.), radio electronic protection, ground weapons and aircraft apparatuses for visibility. In general, the samples show a fairly high usability.
But there are problems, of course, both scientific and technical, and organizational. In the near future, serious investments in the modernization of the existing experimental test base are envisaged. A test complex for assessing radar and optical visibility of promising aircraft and weapons in flight conditions is planned to be built at the NIIR (EW) test site. Works are provided for the Federal Target Program "Development of the defense-industrial complex for the period up to 2020 of the year" and the State Defense Ministry (ROC "Egoryevets V", "Laboratory Assistant"). Interaction with the Scientific Research Institute of Radiology named after academician Berg was organized.
According to the design and development work “Egorievets V”, state tests of the climatic equipment complex passed. Retrofitting the experimental test base will allow them to carry out a full cycle of various inspections from a unified system position, quickly, with a high degree of confidence.
- The Soviet scientific and technical reserve, as is known, has long been exhausted. What potential has been gained lately?
- The head organization in this area is the Scientific Research Institute of Aviation (REB) of the VUNC Air Force "Air Force Academy named after Professor N. E. Zhukovsky and Yu. A. Gagarin." The areas of research and production activities cover all the issues of EW - from the development of conceptual and regulatory documents to support work at all stages of the life cycle of technology. In addition, at the federal level, the Scientific-Research Institute (EII) provides information and analytical support for the work of the NTS of the military-industrial complex of the Russian Federation and the Interdepartmental Commission for planning and coordinating the development of the EW system. It is also the basic organization of an interdepartmental coordination NTS on the problems of the development of the EW system.
The basis of the scientific potential of the institute consists of nine dynamically developing military-scientific schools as part of 19 doctors and more than 130 candidates of science. The studies are conducted in close cooperation with the central military authorities, EW services of all types (genera) of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and military districts, ordering and research organizations of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, executive authorities, defense industry enterprises. A full cycle of research “idea” - “prototyping” - “testing” is provided. An example of fruitful cooperation is the organization of close cooperation between the Scientific Research Institute of Electronic Instrumentation (REB) at VUNC VVS VVS (Voronezh) and academic Institutes of Theoretical and Applied Electrodynamics (Moscow), informatics and automation (St. Petersburg) in the form of “virtual” joint laboratories, the provisions of which are approved President of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Chief of General Staff.
A significant result was the decision support system for UAV identification, which ensures the selection of the optimal method of electronic damage. The implementation of innovative solutions to reduce the visibility of fifth-generation aircraft will reduce the loss of aircraft in modern warfare.
The whole complex of measures for the construction of EW troops will significantly increase their contribution to the achievement of superiority in command and use of weapons. The volume of effectively performed tasks in various strategic areas will increase by two to two and a half times, and by 2020 will reach 85 percent. This in turn will be the basis of an effective ground-air EW system, capable of leveling the enemy’s technological advantage in the aerospace and information and telecommunications space.
- Yuri Illarionovich, what, in your opinion, is characterized by the current stage of development of electronic warfare, which areas are particularly relevant?
- The introduction of modern radio-electronic technologies in the control systems of the forces and means of the Armed Forces of leading foreign countries is an integral part of the implementation of the concept of fast global strike. This, like the Doctrine of Combat Operations adopted in the US Armed Forces in a single information space, significantly increases the level of threats to the military security of the Russian Federation and radically changes the nature and content of the armed struggle.
The enhancement of the role of EW is determined by the very task of disorganizing command and control and weapons enemy by electronic warfare. We must clearly realize that a new area of confrontation has emerged - the information and telecommunications space. The range of tasks for EW troops is significantly expanding. The effect of the use of promising EW tools in terms of effectiveness is comparable with high-precision fire damage. The conceptual documents in the field of electronic warfare, approved by the President of the Russian Federation, are aimed at this. The military-political leadership of the country attaches great importance to improving the EW system as one of the most important elements of ensuring national security. Today, electronic warfare is the most complex intellectual component, especially in hybrid conflicts. This in turn requires the creation of fundamentally new means capable of effectively neutralizing the technological and information advantage of the enemy.
- We have the basis of the combat component of the electronic warfare system are EW troops, created in 2009 year. What are they?
- Our troops are designed for electronic destruction of enemy targets and integrated monitoring of measures to counter reconnaissance equipment and the electronic defense of their troops. They consist of government bodies, formations, military units and subunits of various subordination. The EW forces and facilities are part of the strategic system of radio interference, the Unified System for Integrated Technical Control (CPC), sets of parts of the EW military districts, associations and formations of types and branches of the armed forces of the Russian Federation.
At present, the main forces and assets are concentrated in the Ground Forces, HVs and Navy, which form inter-specific groups of military districts. In the Airborne Forces, we are represented by EW units in airborne units. In the Strategic Missile Forces - CPC units in each rocket army, division, on the range. Since 2014, the tasks of duty on EW are being solved by forces and means of radio suppression in districts.
- What are the priorities for the development of the EW weapons system?
- Improvement of EW equipment must be balanced. There is a traditional approach. It involves the expansion of the range of objects of impact, reducing the type of EW facilities, unification, increased protection from high-precision weapons, mobility and modernization potential. Innovatively, I would highlight five areas:deploying controlled fields of radio suppression on the territory of the enemy on the basis of unified small-sized reconnaissance and jamming modules delivered by the UAV;
the creation of means of destruction by powerful electromagnetic radiation based on the use of specialized ammunition and mobile systems;
development of software technology impact on highly organized management systems by violating the availability, integrity and confidentiality of information;
the introduction of tools to simulate a false radio-electronic situation and the disinformation of enemy control systems and weapons;
increasing the level of information security of the EW management bodies (locations), improving decision-making support algorithms at the expense of a unified management loop of forces and assets.
The implementation of these directions of development of the weapon system will lead to an increase in the volume of tasks solved by EW.
- It is in combat conditions, as I understand it. And what tasks do EW troops solve in peacetime, including your command?
- The Office of the Chief of the EW RF Armed Forces is entrusted with the function of the main radio frequency body of the Ministry of Defense of Russia, which solves a wide range of tasks. These include the provision of electromagnetic compatibility of radio electronic equipment, international legal protection of military electronic equipment (RES), planning of the use of radio frequencies and the conversion of the radio frequency spectrum.
The urgency of these tasks is determined primarily by the fact that advanced foreign radio technologies are being increasingly introduced in the country in the frequency bands historically used by military and government radio-electronic facilities. There are reasons for the appearance of unintentional interference with the RES. The consequence may be the failure of the solution of tasks to ensure the security of the state.
Specialists of the EW EWF advocate for the interests of the Russian Ministry of Defense at the international and national level, participating in the work of the International Telecommunication Union (world and regional radiocommunication conferences), the State Commission on Radio Frequencies, and other organizations that determine the development of radio communications in the world and with us.
To monitor the use of the radio frequency spectrum and ensure the electromagnetic compatibility of radio-electronic equipment of the state and military administration, CPC units are engaged on an ongoing basis. Special attention is given to significant state events, such as the APEC Summit, St. Petersburg International Economic Forums, XXII Olympic and XI Paralympic Winter Games, during which issues were resolved in conjunction with counter-terrorism tasks.
- Recently, a lot of talk about listening to phones, computer attacks, hacking email and other methods of stealing confidential information. How does the Defense Ministry solve the problem of countering foreign technical intelligence services?
- New complexes are being developed and put into operation to protect information on the most informative physical fields of its leakage through technical channels. An example is the Zaslon-EW complex, which was developed in the interests of EW troops and successfully passed in 2016 year. It is designed to ensure that all possible channels of leakage of confidential information are blocked and that a “dome of information impenetrability” is created above the objects of the Ministry of Defense of Russia. The product is fully automated, has a flexible architecture, provides control of all types of mobile communication and data transmission on the territory of protected objects.
- Such tasks are fulfilled in the exercises?
- The number of special exercises conducted by subunits and parts of EW over the past four years has doubled. Special attention is paid to the objective control of their effectiveness. For this purpose, test facilities of the Research and Testing Institute (electronic warfare) of the VUNC VVA Air Force and the Interspecific Center for Training and Combat Use of EW Troops are involved.
Practical testing of promising ways of applying the latest EW tools was possible to organize during the special research exercise of EW troops of the RF Armed Forces Electron-2016. Imagine that events of this magnitude have not been held at a strategic level since 1979. For the first time, the troops worked out in practice the creation of an EW grouping in a strategic direction, ensured the conduct of military-technical experiments prepared by specialists of the Research and Development Department of the Ministry of Defense. The most important result was the recommendations to the military authorities on the organization of interaction, proposals in the statutes.
- The experience of Syria has shown that very high efficiency in conducting reconnaissance and the application of point fire strikes today demonstrate multifunctional UAVs. What can oppose this threat? What is the level of automation of combat control processes?
- In the armed forces, more than 30 states are in operation, UAVs of more than 500 types are in operation or created. Countering them in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is carried out using air defense and electronic warfare. But today, in fact, the only way to effectively combat small-sized UAVs is by means of EW.The automated control systems developed and adopted for the supply of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation significantly increase the use of EW combat capabilities by integrating radio-electronic data in a single information space and significantly reducing control cycles. I would say that along with the air defense forces, we are leaders in this field.
The Situation Center is deployed and functioning in the Office of the Chief of the EW Troops. The automation of control in EW connections has been completed, that is, it is now through - from top managers to executive elements. In the coming years, we plan to complete the integration of EW resources into the Unified Information Space of the RF Armed Forces and thereby ensure the possibility of using all data on the operational and radio-electronic environment that the military authorities have and the federal executive structures that interact with them.
- Russian "defense" since 2014, under the sanctions. How do you assess the real possibilities of defense enterprises for the production of EW equipment in the light of presidential decrees on the achievement of 70-percentage equipment of troops with modern weapons by the 2020 year?
- Sanctions hit almost all defense companies. However, to date, the negative impact on the development and production of serial equipment, I believe, is practically reduced to a minimum. The problem of import substitution is successfully solved.
Over the years, stable cooperation has developed in two main areas: development, serial production of EW equipment and troop control systems. The enterprises that are engaged in this are united in two concerns: “Constellation” and “Radio-electronic technologies”. Both integrated structures are developing dynamically, finding non-standard technical solutions, introducing and mastering new technologies, presenting the initiative to the military. All this, as well as the successful implementation of the state-of-the-art defense and state defense orders over the years, suggests that by the 2020, the EW troops will be equipped with modern and promising models of weapons of at least 70 percent.
The presence of two integrated structures in the Rab cooperation does not mean that other enterprises wishing to create high-performance equipment cannot be its developers and serial manufacturers. A vivid example is Special Technology Center LLC, which implements a number of innovative options for the development of a weapon system and presents its initiatively developed samples for trial operation.
- If we talk about promising products, what are the results and what are the problems?
- State tests, as it were, throw a bridge between the activities of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, the military-industrial complex enterprises and the exploitation of military facilities in the army, and combat work. Over the past three years, more than 30 of various types of EW equipment for efficiency (products Borisoglebsk-2, Lorandit-M, Palantin, Bylina, etc.), radio electronic protection, ground weapons and aircraft apparatuses for visibility. In general, the samples show a fairly high usability.
But there are problems, of course, both scientific and technical, and organizational. In the near future, serious investments in the modernization of the existing experimental test base are envisaged. A test complex for assessing radar and optical visibility of promising aircraft and weapons in flight conditions is planned to be built at the NIIR (EW) test site. Works are provided for the Federal Target Program "Development of the defense-industrial complex for the period up to 2020 of the year" and the State Defense Ministry (ROC "Egoryevets V", "Laboratory Assistant"). Interaction with the Scientific Research Institute of Radiology named after academician Berg was organized.
According to the design and development work “Egorievets V”, state tests of the climatic equipment complex passed. Retrofitting the experimental test base will allow them to carry out a full cycle of various inspections from a unified system position, quickly, with a high degree of confidence.
- The Soviet scientific and technical reserve, as is known, has long been exhausted. What potential has been gained lately?
- The head organization in this area is the Scientific Research Institute of Aviation (REB) of the VUNC Air Force "Air Force Academy named after Professor N. E. Zhukovsky and Yu. A. Gagarin." The areas of research and production activities cover all the issues of EW - from the development of conceptual and regulatory documents to support work at all stages of the life cycle of technology. In addition, at the federal level, the Scientific-Research Institute (EII) provides information and analytical support for the work of the NTS of the military-industrial complex of the Russian Federation and the Interdepartmental Commission for planning and coordinating the development of the EW system. It is also the basic organization of an interdepartmental coordination NTS on the problems of the development of the EW system.
The basis of the scientific potential of the institute consists of nine dynamically developing military-scientific schools as part of 19 doctors and more than 130 candidates of science. The studies are conducted in close cooperation with the central military authorities, EW services of all types (genera) of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and military districts, ordering and research organizations of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, executive authorities, defense industry enterprises. A full cycle of research “idea” - “prototyping” - “testing” is provided. An example of fruitful cooperation is the organization of close cooperation between the Scientific Research Institute of Electronic Instrumentation (REB) at VUNC VVS VVS (Voronezh) and academic Institutes of Theoretical and Applied Electrodynamics (Moscow), informatics and automation (St. Petersburg) in the form of “virtual” joint laboratories, the provisions of which are approved President of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Chief of General Staff.
A significant result was the decision support system for UAV identification, which ensures the selection of the optimal method of electronic damage. The implementation of innovative solutions to reduce the visibility of fifth-generation aircraft will reduce the loss of aircraft in modern warfare.
The whole complex of measures for the construction of EW troops will significantly increase their contribution to the achievement of superiority in command and use of weapons. The volume of effectively performed tasks in various strategic areas will increase by two to two and a half times, and by 2020 will reach 85 percent. This in turn will be the basis of an effective ground-air EW system, capable of leveling the enemy’s technological advantage in the aerospace and information and telecommunications space.
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