USSOCOM seeks new mounted, dismounted EW capabilities

Anduril's Pulsar multimission EW solution is to be available in air (Pulsar-V) and ground (Pulsar-G) variants. (Andrew White)

US Special Operations Command's (USSOCOM's) electronic warfare (EW) Family of Systems (FoS) is the “newest” programme in the Program Executive Office (PEO) – SOF Warrior portfolio and was initially approved in November 2023 to focus on the “ground domain” operations, the command announced on 7 May.

SOF Warrior documents stated the EW FoS will include “dismounted/body-worn; mounted; unattended sensor; and small unmanned payloads to enable electromagnetic surveillance (ES), electromagnetic attack (EA), and electromagnetic protection (EP) capabilities”. The documents were presented at Special Operations Forces (SOF) Week 2024 in Tampa, Florida.

Officials suggested aspects of EP would be “pertinent” to countering unmanned aircraft systems as well as electromagnetic countermeasures (ECM). Other areas of interest include jamming-resilient radar capabilities.

Initially, the programme will focus on a White Paper review ahead of a capability exercise in the fourth quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2024 to “inform initial procurements and prioritise capability gaps for future development”, Lieutenant Colonel Brice Cooper, programme manager for counter proliferation at PEO-SOF Warrior, said. Initial development and operational testing are scheduled to take place over the course of FY 2025.

“SOF is a little bit behind when it comes to theatre mission force EW capability,” Lt Col Cooper noted. “So a lot of our initial focus will be on assessing capability that's out there to try to find proven mature systems that we can get into production, fielding, and operational test to qualify to garner capacity for our SOF formations.”