Timothy Lawn, M.A.’s Post

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United States Army Sergeant Major (RET) / USMC - 03 GRUNT - Infantry. Disruptor, Futurist, Innovator - Tactical, Operational and Strategic Servant Thought Leader

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER ON THE BATTLEFIELD  - A QUICK GUIDE TO SPACE AND THE EMS FOR WARFIGHTERS - [T]he utilization of space has exponentially progressed, and consequently upended the American way of war. - Warfare has drastically evolved since World War II when hundreds of bombers darkened the skies with thousands of bombs to attempt to destroy one target. The Allies could attack once-safe rear areas but inflicted significant collateral damage and at great cost in aircraft and crew. Advances during the Cold War helped both accuracy and mitigated risk, but weapons still lacked surgical precision. During the first Gulf War, nascent space-based effects like the Global Positioning System (GPS) led to greatly improved targeting. Today, GPS-guided munitions provide flexible and exacting fires. Capitalizing on the past three decades of uncontested space dominance, the United States created highly effective weapon systems. However, multiple nations, including Russia and China, contest space today. Considering the landscape, this article presents the military’s organization of the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) and space domain and the fundamentals of space and EMS operations. - The massive engagements in World War II have been replaced with precise and overwhelming fires exhibited in the Global War on Terror, coupled with exquisite intelligence and communication. Adversaries, however, have noticed space’s influence in recent conflicts, and have developed the means to manipulate the EMS to disrupt these capabilities. - The EMS is ubiquitous and interacts to a degree with nearly every military capability. Oversight of EMS operations is resident within combatant commands, under a Joint Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations Cell (JEMSOC) as the EMS coordinating authority (EMSCA). These cross-disciplinary, joint teams play a critical role as EMS operations involve signals exploitation, electromagnetic warfare, and spectrum management. EMS equities reside in commands’ J2 (signals intelligence), J3 (operations), and J6 (spectrum management) directorates. - Warfighters Must Know Space and EMS Basics Today’s warfighter must understand the importance of space and EMS on the contemporary battlefield. Future conflict will likely be conducted across all domains, and a basic understanding of these two arenas will aid national security professionals when they engage space and EMS subject matter experts on a joint or coalition staff. While this brief article is not comprehensive, we offer that it provides a starting point for professionals to continue their studies of space and EMS. Studying these two arenas can help joint warfighters “live long and prosper” on the battlefield. https://lnkd.in/dpA2wKkA

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