Army Initiates Electronic Warfare Capability

, WASHINGTON: The Army is developing a new core competency for career Soldiers and officers interested in becoming electronic warfare specialists. 
 
“As the Army continues to face an increasingly sophisticated, learning and adaptive enemy, who will engage in asymmetric warfare characterized by irregular tactics, terror, and the use of the most deadly casualty-producing means available to them, we find ourselves needing to develop new ways to attack and defeat these adversaries,” said Lt. Gen. James J. Lovelace Jr., Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. 
 
“As nation-states, both friendly and hostile, move forward into ever more technologically-complex domains, we need new tools and capabilities to better address a full spectrum of challenges.” 
 
In the early stages of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, commanders quickly realized that they needed highly trained and qualified Electronic Warfare personnel within the Army. 
 
The Navy was able to step in to assist in this fight by providing trained electronic warfare operators, both commissioned and enlisted, to support ground forces. This effort proved to be such a combat multiplier that in April 2006, Headquarters Department of the Army established the Electronic Warfare Division as part the Army Asymmetric Warfare Office. 
 
The Electronic Warfare Division's mission is to oversee electronic warfare policy, programs and resources within the Army. 
 
In May 2006, the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army directed G-3 to establish electronic warfare as an enduring core warfighting competency within the Army. Specifically, he directed the G-3 to develop an electronic warfare force structure and operational concepts which strengthen the Army's strategic vision and supports the ground force component commander allowing for seamless employment within the joint warfighting environment. 
 
Under the Vice Chief's guidance, the Army is planning the development of a military occupational specialty and an officer career field. These Soldiers are already embedded in units and preparing to go to Iraq and Afghanistan to do “battle hand-off” with the Navy EWOs on the ground. 
 
“The Army has come a very long way in a few months,