Manoeuvre Warfare and the Electromagnetic Spectrum

Abstract

Militaries depend on the electromagnetic spectrum to fight; it is where their radios and radars do their work. Without control of the spectrum, the ability of navies, armies, air and space forces to sense and communicate is badly degraded. Thomas Withington argues that manoeuvrist principles of warfare are directly applicable to military operations in the electromagnetic spectrum, particularly the radio spectrum. Applying these principles can help forces win and sustain a position of advantage over their adversaries in the spectrum, directly supporting and assisting operations in all domains of war.◼

Notes

1. Phillip S Meilinger, ‘Supremacy in the Skies’, Air and Space Forces Magazine (Vol. 99, No. 2, February 2016), p. 46.

2. Thor Martinsen, Phillip E Pace and Edward L Fisher, ‘Maneuver Warfare in the Electromagnetic Battlespace’, Journal of Electronic Defense (Vol. 37, No. 10, October 2014), p. 32.

3. Christopher Bellamy, ‘Manoeuvre Warfare’, in Richard Holmes (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Military History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), p. 541.

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.

6. Martin van Creveld, Air Power and Maneuver Warfare (Maxwell Air Force Base, AL: Air University Press, 1994).

7. Martinson, Pace and Fisher, ‘Maneuver Warfare in the Electromagnetic Battlespace’, p. 31.

8. Robert Leonhard, The Art of Maneuver: Maneuver-Warfare Theory and AirLand Battle (New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 1991), p. 62.

9. Ibid.

10. Bellamy, ‘Manoeuvre Warfare’, p. 544.

11. Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, ‘Dislocation’, <https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/dislocation>, accessed 20 January 2023.

12. Leonhard, The Art of Maneuvre, p. 66.

13. Ibid., p. 19.

14. Michael Krause, ‘Clausewitz & Centres of Gravity Open to Interpretation’, The Forge, <https://theforge.defence.gov.au/publications/clausewitz-centres-gravity-open-interpretation>, accessed 7 November 2023.

15. Leonhard, The Art of Maneuvre, p. 21.

16. Ibid., p. 22.

17. Ibid., p. 74.

18. US Department of Defence, Joint Publication 3-13.4 Military Deception, (US Department of Defence, Washington DC: 26/1/12), page vii.

19. Leonhard, The Art of Maneuvre, p. 34.

20. Ibid., p. 39.

21. US Department of Defence, Joint Publication 3-85 – Joint Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations, (Washington, DC: US Department of Defence, 2020), p. I-2.

22. Ibid., p. 153.

23. Ibid.

24. Ibid.

25. Ibid, pp. 153–54.

26. Jelle van Haaster, On Cyber: The Utility of Military Cyber Operations During Armed Conflict (Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam, 2019), p. 198.

27. US DoD, Joint Publication 3-85, p. I-9.

28. Isaac R Porche et al., Tactical Cyber: Building a Strategy for Cyber Support to Corps and Below (Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2017).

29. Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre, ‘Joint Doctrine Note 1/18: Cyber and Electromagnetic Activities’, Ministry of Defence, February 2018, <https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a8d6373e5274a5e67567dff/doctrine_uk_cyber_and_electromagnetic_activities_jdn_1_18.pdf>, accessed 6 October 2023.

30. Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre, ‘Joint Doctrine Note 1/18’, p. 3.

31. P Curtiss, ‘CEMA Use Cases – Making it Real’, presentation to the Association of Old Crows Electronic Warfare Europe Conference and Exhibition, Montpellier, France, 11 May 2022.

32. Scott Applegate, ‘The Principle of Maneuver in Cyber Operations’, in C Czosseck, R Ottis and K Ziolkowski (eds), 4th International Conference on Cyber Conflict (Tallinn: NATO CCD COE Publications, 2012), p. 191.

33. Applegate, ‘The Principle of Maneuver in Cyber Operations’.

34. Martinsen, Pace and Fisher, ‘Maneuver Warfare in the Electromagnetic Battlespace’, p. 31.

35. Tim Fountain and Leander Humbert, ‘Improving the Capabilities of Cognitive Radar and EW Systems’, 8 February 2022, <https://militaryembedded.com/radar-ew/rf-and-microwave/improving-the-capabilities-of-cognitive-radar-and-ew-systems>, accessed 6 October 2023.

36. Leonhard, The Art of Maneuvre, p. 66.

37. Cambridge Dictionary, ‘Disruption’, <https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/disruption>, accessed 23 June 2023.

38. Norman Wade, OPFOR Smartbook-1 – Chinese Military: Forces, Operations and Tactics (Lakeland, FL: The Lightning Press, 2022), pp. 2–18.

39. Ibid.

40. Applegate, ‘The Principle of Maneuvre in Cyber Operations’, p. 189.

41. Ibid.

42. Stephanie J Seward, ‘Cyberwarfare in the Tactical Battlespace: An Intelligence Officer’s Perspective’, Infantry Magazine (April–June 2018), p. 12.

43. Thomas Withington, ‘68 Guns’, Armada International, 2 December 2021, <https://www.armadainternational.com/2021/12/russian-cyber-warfare/>, accessed 17 March 2023.

44. Seward, ‘Cyberwarfare in the Tactical Battlespace’, p. 12.

45. Global Security, ‘Satellite Bandwidth’, 21 July 2011, <https://www.globalsecurity.org/space/systems/bandwidth.htm>, accessed 24 June 2023.

46. Ibid.

47. Aaron Mehta, ‘Pentagon Tech Advisers Target How the Military Digests Data’, Defense News, 6 April 2017, <https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2017/04/06/pentagon-tech-advisers-target-how-the-military-digests-data>, accessed 24 June 2023.

48. Ray Alderman, ‘Radar Cross Section: The Measure of Stealth’, Military Embedded Systems, 31 March 2017, <https://militaryembedded.com/radar-ew/signal-processing/radar-cross-section-the-measure-of-stealth>, accessed 24 June 2023.

49. Ibid.

50. Ibid.

51. US Department of Defence, ‘Conduct of the Persian Gulf War: Final Report to Congress’, April 1992, p. 158, <https://archive.org/details/ConductofthePersianGulfWarFinalReporttoCongress/mode/2up>, accessed 24 June 2023.

52. Ibid.

53. Ibid., p. 153.

54. Richard A Gabriel, Operation peace for Galilee: the Israeli-PLO War in Lebanon (New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 1985), p. 98.

55. Ibid.

56. Andrew Feickert, ‘Defense Primer: Army Multi-Domain Operations (MDO)’, Congressional Research Service, 21 November 2022, p. 1.

57. HM Government, ‘Multi-Domain Integration’, 17 January 2022, <https://www.gov.uk/guidance/multi-domain-integration>, accessed 24 June 2023.

58. US DoD, Joint Publication 3-85, p. 23.

59. Ibid.

60. Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach in Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre, ‘Joint Doctrine Note 1/18’, p. 2.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Thomas Withington

Thomas Withington is an award-winning analyst and writer specialising in electronic warfare, radar and military communications and a Research Associate at RUSI. He has written widely on these subjects for a range of specialist and general publications. He also works as a consultant and adviser in these areas for several leading government and private sector clients.