U.S. military officials are yet to decide if electromagnetic warfare should be established as a separate domain along with land, air, sea, cyber and space, C4ISRnet reported Wednesday.
Brig. Gen. David Gaedecke, director of electromagnetic spectrum superiority under the U.S. Air Force’s deputy chief of staff for strategy, integration and requirements, said at an Association of Old Crows event that while the electromagnetic spectrum has physical properties, establishing it as a standalone domain would pose logistical challenges for large organizations like the Department of Defense.
Laurence Mixon, a special assistant at the Army’s Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors, noted that EMS encompasses all warfare domains and will enable forces to coordinate effectively.
“EMS is definitely an aspect of the operational environment that every tactician has to be aware of, understand and leverage,†he said. “And on the acquisition side we have to consider EMS when we are developing every one of our systems. I think since EMS crosses all of the domains that we currently have today that we identify and use in the joint parlance–I don’t think the Army is ready to call it a domain.”
