58 CBRNe WORLD Winter 2011 www.cbrneworld.com

After a decade of operations in themodern IED environment, militarieshave built up both expertise and

inventories to cope with current andimmediate threats, but are now looking atdeveloping a long term solution that canadapt over time without the need toreplace hardware.

The US is foremost amongst thoseseeking to secure current capabilitieswhile transitioning to an innovative,scalable, and modular architecture thatcan be updated over time through its JointCounter Radio Controlled ImprovisedExplosive Device Electronic Warfare(JCREW) 3 programme, whileacknowledging the need to integrate itssignificant installed base.

The Army’s Counter Radio ControlledImprovised Explosive Device ElectronicWarfare (CREW) 2 or Duke, developed bySRC remains the dominant availablesystem with some 30,000 in service. Whilethe Duke programme was led by the Army,a decision was made to transferresponsibility for jammers to the Navy,reflecting their expertise in electronicwarfare. This led to CREW 2.1, also knownas Crew Vehicle Receiver Jammer (CVRJ),which became the standard offering forthe Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force withroughly 13,000 examples also deployedwith the Army, operated alongside Duke:the Australians also acquired 2.1. In totalabout 23,000 were produced. In additionto the CVRJ, which was a reactive system,a second system was produced, MobileMulti-Band Jammer (MMBJ), which wasan active jamming systems with about2500 fielded. Both the CVRJ and MMBJwere supplied by EDO Corporation whichlater became part of ITT Corporation. Inaddition to the vehicle mounted systems,in 2006 a dismounted solution wasacquired prompted by the issuing of aJoint Urgent Operational Needs Statementfrom Iraq, known as the QRD. The system,a Selex Galileo design produced in the USby BAE Systems, has over 800 systemsfielded, largely with the Army.

With the commencement of the Joint

CREW (JCREW) 3 programme, the DoDestablished a requirement for a singlemodular family of systems. Three systemswere identified; a dismounted system(3.1), an interim mounted systems (3.2),and a fixed/mounted/dismounted systemfor long term support (3.3). The Crew 3.1was awarded to the Sierra NevadaCorporation with roughly 2000 examplesfielded in 2009-10, comprising the ThorIII or AN/PLQ-9 which can also be usedfor light mounted and fixed sightprotection, mainly for the Army andMarine Corps. JCREW 3.2 was intended toallow the DoD to react to new threats ifrequired, this contract was awarded to ITTCorporation, with a small number ofsystems delivered for testing, but becausea new threat that was unable to beaddressed by legacy system did not occur,further orders did not emerge and nofurther work is on-going. For JCREW 3.3,a competition emerged between ITTCorporation and Northrop Grumman, andafter a critical design review of bothsystems the contract was awarded to ITTCorporation in early 2011. ITTCorporation are currently deliveringEngineering Development Model (EDM)examples for the 3.3’s Increment 1 Block 1(I1B1), known as Vigilant Protector, with aLow Rate Initial Production (LRIP)decision expected in 2012. The plan is forthe United States Air Force, Marine Corps,and Navy to convert to JCREW 3.3. TheArmy has not yet concluded their strategyon how to integrate I1B1 which will befitted to all Armoured Fighting Vehicles(AFVs) from Abram M1A2 to BradleyM2A3, down to HMMWVs.The designation I1B1 is significant as itflags up the design’s inherent capability tothe Modular Open Systems Architecture.The DoD’s goal is that the system’shardware would remain effective until2031, with improvements to its jammingcapability delivered over time via newstandard cards being added to itshardware, as technology insertions usingan open business model allows the DoD toselect different cards from different

companies– an approach designed to driveinnovation and lower life cycle costs.

The design is such that bothspecialists and non-specialists can use thesystem. The former controls the systemvia a series of advanced controls orthrough Force XXI Battle CommandBrigade and Below (FBCB2) and its JointCapabilities Release (JCR) and Joint BattleCommand (JBC) successor systems, whilethe latter controls I1B1 via a PDA typedevice. The system can also be controlledand updated through a JCREW Missionplaner and an Electronic Warfare Officervia the Army Battle Command System,with the system also allowing mission datasets to be received via access toSIPRNET/Satcom.

Grintek Ewation’s Manpack GMJ900Radio-Controlled IEDs (RCIED) jammerfamily is designed to cover two frequencyranges 20-500Mhz with the GMJ9000V and500-2.5GHz with the GMJ9000U, both withup to 20W of total RF power and both ableto cover their respective bands with asingle antenna - though other options areavailable. The systems are able to jammultiple threats simultaneously and areable to jam new 3G frequencies as well as2.4Ghz for WiFi devices. The system ispowered by standard BB2590 militarybatteries, reducing the logistics foot print.The system can be mounted, and oneoption for the systems is to be used as alight vehicle jammer with the addition of acable to a magnetic mounted antenna.

Thales’ new RCIED Inhibitor, Gecco,will be delivered to an Urgent OperationalRequirements customer in Afghanistan atthe end of 2012 and can transit at10,20,50 and 100W using an omni-directional antenna. When the jammer ismatched with an electronic intelligencegathering systems, the systems becomesthe Earl Land solution with a smallantenna giving sector indication forsignals of interest in eight quadrants. TheElectronic Support Measures (ESM)systems that could be included in Earlcould be the company’s 6200 EW system.

Gecco is a precise, reactive designwhich frees up spectrum in comparisonto barrage jammers which fills up thespectrum with noise. In addition tosimple jamming it can also be used as asensor when used in conjunction with DF(Direction Finding) and ESM (ElectronicSupport Measures). The design is entirelynon-ITAR (International Traffic in ArmsRegulation) and because its capability is

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CBRNe South America 2012, 13-14 March, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. More information on www.icbrnevents.com

Adam Baddeley on the improving quality of electronic counter measures

Jam today… Jam Tomorrow

59Winter 2011 CBRNe WORLDwww.cbrneworld.com

CBRNe South America 2012, 13-14 March, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. More information on www.icbrnevents.com

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software rather than hardware based, itallows the use of low classificationsoftware. It is also designed to be used bya non-specialist user community.

One option for the highly softwaredependent system could be a reduction insize, weight, and power in order to beincluded as a ‘blade’ in radios such as themulti-channel FlexNet Four. Thesoftware also permits Thales to package asoftware development kit, allowing newcapability to be added by the users ratherthan through the aegis of the company.

The Thales Storm-H provides aPersonal ECM with the same form factorand battery as the ubiquitous AN/PRC-148 radio, giving it an eight houroperational life. It is offered in threeoptimised variants for 2G, 3G andwideband operations. The system has anumber of features designed fordismounted operations including onebutton operations equipment zeroise,silent options via the use of passivecooling, lightweight weighing 1.1Kg, andcompact with advanced features found inmounted systems includingsynchronization, flexible missionprofiling via software, and waveformdevelopment applications.

Selex’s modular system approach isdelivered via the ECM Guardian productline with the high powered Guaradian-H2and H3 system and the lower poweredGuardian C2, which features a RemoteControl Unit, with Selex also supportingECM antenna and electronic magneticinstallation modelling.

L-3 TRL launched their newLightweight RCIED jammer in

September at the Defence & SecurityEquipment International (DSEi)exhibition as part of an enhancement toits Broadshield ModularCountermeasures Suite manpackjammers. Key improvements to thesystem have been in weight, substitutingaluminium for carbon fibre in a numberof cases, thus reducing weight by 470Kgfor a total weight of 7.3Kg.

Bulgaria’s Samel 90 mobile manpackand portable jammers cover a range offrequencies, the manpack and portablejammer operating from 20-520, 800-1000and 180 and 2200MHz, which can becustomised according to userrequirements. Both use a two to fourfrequency sub-band transmitter modes at100W. For the mobile jammer, the basicsystems have a range for 20-2500MHzwith options to extend that upper limit to3000MHz and 6000MHZ with up to 14frequency sub-bands. The systems meetNatoSTANAG 2345 and have a number offeatures for internal protection, safetyand ease of use, such as automaticallyshutting down modules if necessary.

UK firm Enterprise Control System(ECS) produce a range in RF inhibitors.For the dismounted user, the companyhas developed the Kestrel system, whichcovers wideband, tri-band GSM, and

wireless LAN for programmable theatrefills. The Kestrel is also to be installed onvehicles via the use of vehicle bornepower amplifiers and specialised antennaground plane. Beyond Kestrel, ECS offersthe Falcon and Griffon solutions fordismounted, vehicle and fixed solutions.

NDR Resource International, Inc. hasrecently launched its new NDR-JAM3Programmable Dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) Monitoring/DefeatingSystem. This is designed to counter thelatest DTMF encode/decode designs asinitiators in IEDs, which have been seenin Afghanistan, Iraq, and South ofThailand, and is offered in a threemember family.

In the air, the US Marine Corps istesting its new Intrepid Tiger IIcommunications intelligence andjamming pod as part of a ‘quick look’assessment. A low cost design initially foruse of the AV-8B Harrier, it could also bedeployed on Cobra and Huey helicopters.The system costs just $600,000.

An interesting jamming footnote,showing it is not just the good guys thatcan play, comes from the fall of Libya andthe now deceased Colonel Qaddafi. TheItalian press carried details of agovernment to government deal in 2008between France and Libya, in whichFrench firm Amesys converted aMercedes SUV to give the Libya leader astealthy means of transport. Themodification included the installation ofa faraday cage in the body of the vehicledesigned to neutralize any electric fieldswithin a 100-meter radius.