Not sure if anyone finds these interesting, but I'm playing with them...
--
--
Imagine you’re in a dark room. With a flashlight in one hand and a gun in the other. You know there’s someone else out there. You’ve got to find him and kill him, before he finds you.
So, you switch on your torch
And there he is.
Aiming his own gun at your beam.
That right there is the basic dilemma of Electronic Warfare.
It’s a game of shine and countershine. Trying to deceive enemy sensors, while trying to decipher the enemy’s deceptions. It’s about denying the electronic spectrum to the enemy, while mastering it ourselves.
It’s a game played by us Crows in test labs, long before the birds take to the air.
For your average pilot Electronic Warfare is what happens when he gets spiked by the enemy and pushes a little green button on his control column. An iPod slung under the wing records the spike, compares it to a database of signals it knows and hopefully starts playing the right music to answer.
The letter E flashes on the HUD and, if we Crows have done our job right, the missile arrives at where it thinks you are to find nothing but nothing.
We call that Electronic Offence. You’re attacking the missile’s sensors. Sometimes by straight up jamming it with raw radiated energy, but there’re cleverer things we can do that have a better chance of winning.
The missile will try and defend itself from your jamming. Either by switching frequencies or pulse rate, or, if it’s particularly sneaky, homing in on your jamming signal.
For most pilots, it’s magic. You push the button and it happens. But it’s pretty limited in what it can do. It doesn’t have the output power to jam some of the really dangerous weapons, or the smartness to defeat the really intelligent ones.
Or the ones it hasn’t been programmed with.
You can buy these for your personal craft, but be aware that they do get old quickly.
Going up a level in the technology game brings you to the Phantasmagoria pods produced by Orion and similar. These don’t just keep you safe, they let you attack the enemy directly. They’re basically just bigger, smarter and more capable versions of the basic iPod, with more power, more emitters and more receivers.
Fit them as a FAST pack to a Valkyrie-L and you have now have a spacecraft dedicated to finding and destroying enemy electronic installations, while doing its level best to avoid being killed in the process. These are the ones who fly in ahead of the main strike force, and kill the enemy defences before they kill your friends.
These sensor pods record what is hitting them, identify the type and model of sensor, and then train your anti-radiation missiles on the sensor, programming them with the right electronic solutions to home in on their targets.
A smart enemy of course, will realise the missile is riding their signal and defend themselves with the simple and effective method of hitting the ‘OFF’ switch, leaving your missile to either go ballistic or take its best guess at where the enemy used to be. Unless you’re using any sort of remote guidance this usually results in a miss.
Which is why your normal Valkyrie-L on an interdiction mission will carry other weapon types, based on either infra-red or optical guidance.
Which are both still technically part of the electronic spectrum.
These FAST packs do have the ability to record some data and so can be used for reconnaissance but in general, they lack the memory and sensitivity to do much better than record and identify what emitters are present.
Bellcom packs on their 1-L’s are a little different from ours – they’re far more capable in the electronic environment for a start, but that’s another story.
To actually get a ‘take’ which can be used to develop a useful electronic signature takes a dedicated spacecraft with the appropriate sensors and memory capacity.
The Peacemakers we used originally could be flying laboratories, but were too slow to escape if attacked so needed a full escort wing with them.
Some Blackbirds were refit for their former role, with the missile compartments, cannon emplacements and zigs replaced. We call them Ravens. Some people like to call them Senior Citizen – as most of the frames are original-builds from ten years ago.
With a full crew aboard, these are still the mainstay of our ELINT and MASINT forces. They are still the fastest spacecraft in their weight class, still have the best sensor capability of any spacecraft we operate, and have five people huddled in the rear compartment to operate that equipment.
Since we built them, they’ve been upgraded and refit as technologies have changed. We’ve just recently added manadynamic capabilities to them. New engines let them keep up with the majority of strike forces.
These are spacecraft more concerned with the ‘take’, with gathering the most information possible, from as far out as possible. They datalink information to friendly spacecraft to advise on what threats are out there, and then either enable friendly to engage those threats electronically, or do so themselves.
They’ve enough radiative power that they can work on countering multiple threats at once, as effectively as a Phantasmagoria could counter one. We always had someone onboard who could work up new solutions against hardware that’d never been seen before, and implement it there and then running on the main computers as a software module. We also had VI support to help anyone be effective in an emergency.
The majority of our systems worked in hardware. That is, somebody went and built a chip, or a discrete component, that performed a very specific task. An application specific integrated circuit. This is still the most efficient way. General purpose computers can do the same thing, but doing it in software requires much more processing power.
Far more than can be fitted in an iPod or Phantasmagoria.
So, when that Blackbird or Peacemaker comes back to base, its ‘take’ makes it to my desk, where I analyse it, filter it, and work through it to come up with a countermeasure, or combination of countermeasures, that can be programmed into the next generation of iPods. There’s dozens of us working either with mockups of enemy systems, or prototyping out countermeasures using either raw computing power or FRASIC’s the we can flash and which are almost as fast as dedicated chips, but are I-could-buy-a-moon expensive.
The Foxhound is a little like my desk in a spacecraft. That does .19C.
It has a similar level of computing power to the Raven – coming up just a little bit short by virtue of being smaller. It has poorer sensor resolution and less radiative power. The IDAR array is unique, but it can only detect active drive fields, so doesn’t help against silent targets or anything flying ballistic.
In terms of raw technical capability, its specifications on paper are nothing to write home about. Even the astonishing speed is as a result of compromises in the engines on life and manageability.
It demands a pilot who understands propulsion systems and engineering, with some knowledge of aeronautics.
What makes it special and interesting is the onboard databus system called ‘Central Despatch’ that basically turns it into a high speed mobile laboratory and test rig. Every single function of the onboard computers, every hardware item, every sensor, every emitter, the navigation and autopilot system – even the weapons – are mapped into the computer’s file system with their own namespace, communicating using a common data pipe rather than through dedicated individual protocols.
And all of it is on-the-fly reprogrammable through a visual function-block interface. With real-time feedback so it’s possible to see the results of your program as you generate them.
Running them in software takes a lot of computer power so limits the amount of – or the speed of - simultaneous work you can do – but it’s also possible to add dedicated hardware items to the bus to do some common work. The spacecraft’s hardpoints can be tied into the databus, letting you add external processing power, or additional sensors or emitters, as required. Even the comm-system, if you want to share data with another bird, or map a sensor on that bird to your own system.
If you need more speed on some common operation, you can even flash routines you’ve written to a quartet of high performance FRASIC modules. Or export them in VHDL when you get back to the lab to build a hardware module capable of doing the same thing, then add that to an external hardpoint.
It’s a multiplier for a single operator, letting me do the work of a full crew.
There are technical drawbacks, of course. There is a cooling load to consider, and the cooling systems are vulnerable to enemy fire, or to overload if you are not careful with your thermal management.
It also relies on having an operator– an Information Systems Officer – who knows what they are doing, and understands what each individual module is supposed to actually do. There’s no ‘push-to-jam’ or ‘push-to-analyse’ – only the tools there for you to do the work.
They turned to us desk jockeys and researchers to find the right people. Nobody sits in the back seat of one of these without being an Old Crow – preferably with a few papers to your name in the Journal of Electronic Defence. It’s easier to train someone with a Crow badge to act as flight crew, than it is to train someone with flight experience, to act as a skilled Crow.
Which is why you will see very few, if any, of these anywhere. They gather in places only where you find just the right combination of skills. Most of the people who have those skills, often have the skills and backing to have built their own personal tools already.
But that’s not what attracted me to the Foxhound.
For the first time in my career, I can feel the battles I knew I’ve been fighting. It’s exciting to see the effects of your work in real time. To guide a missile to a target, or feel the thrill of discovering a new type of hardware, and defeating it before it can shoot us down.
Everyone needs to get out of the lab once in a while, and I can think of no better way.
-----
As a side note, if you’re feeling up for a challenge or would like a taster of what it takes to be a Crow flying one of these, try Aces High - a space combat simulator by the bird’s designer. A lot of what we do is heavily abstracted away, into a game of match the signatures, but there are still similarities. You still need to select the correct counter for each threat – although it does give you hints – and build up a program to link receiver through processes to output. And you need to watch your system loads, and how thin you’re spreading your capabilities. You can’t be effective against everything out there, as much as you’d like to try.
The real challenge in this mode is target identification and prioritisation. Some threats just aren’t worth defending against because they’re not really a threat. Others might kill you without you ever recognising the danger – like ARMS. It forces you to think and try to analyse.
But there is nothing more frustrating that not being able to apply a solution that I know works, but which the system won’t let me try because it’s designed for casuals.
You will also need to find someone to be your chauffeur. The AI pilot is a bit stupid.
--
--
Imagine you’re in a dark room. With a flashlight in one hand and a gun in the other. You know there’s someone else out there. You’ve got to find him and kill him, before he finds you.
So, you switch on your torch
And there he is.
Aiming his own gun at your beam.
That right there is the basic dilemma of Electronic Warfare.
It’s a game of shine and countershine. Trying to deceive enemy sensors, while trying to decipher the enemy’s deceptions. It’s about denying the electronic spectrum to the enemy, while mastering it ourselves.
It’s a game played by us Crows in test labs, long before the birds take to the air.
For your average pilot Electronic Warfare is what happens when he gets spiked by the enemy and pushes a little green button on his control column. An iPod slung under the wing records the spike, compares it to a database of signals it knows and hopefully starts playing the right music to answer.
The letter E flashes on the HUD and, if we Crows have done our job right, the missile arrives at where it thinks you are to find nothing but nothing.
We call that Electronic Offence. You’re attacking the missile’s sensors. Sometimes by straight up jamming it with raw radiated energy, but there’re cleverer things we can do that have a better chance of winning.
The missile will try and defend itself from your jamming. Either by switching frequencies or pulse rate, or, if it’s particularly sneaky, homing in on your jamming signal.
For most pilots, it’s magic. You push the button and it happens. But it’s pretty limited in what it can do. It doesn’t have the output power to jam some of the really dangerous weapons, or the smartness to defeat the really intelligent ones.
Or the ones it hasn’t been programmed with.
You can buy these for your personal craft, but be aware that they do get old quickly.
Going up a level in the technology game brings you to the Phantasmagoria pods produced by Orion and similar. These don’t just keep you safe, they let you attack the enemy directly. They’re basically just bigger, smarter and more capable versions of the basic iPod, with more power, more emitters and more receivers.
Fit them as a FAST pack to a Valkyrie-L and you have now have a spacecraft dedicated to finding and destroying enemy electronic installations, while doing its level best to avoid being killed in the process. These are the ones who fly in ahead of the main strike force, and kill the enemy defences before they kill your friends.
These sensor pods record what is hitting them, identify the type and model of sensor, and then train your anti-radiation missiles on the sensor, programming them with the right electronic solutions to home in on their targets.
A smart enemy of course, will realise the missile is riding their signal and defend themselves with the simple and effective method of hitting the ‘OFF’ switch, leaving your missile to either go ballistic or take its best guess at where the enemy used to be. Unless you’re using any sort of remote guidance this usually results in a miss.
Which is why your normal Valkyrie-L on an interdiction mission will carry other weapon types, based on either infra-red or optical guidance.
Which are both still technically part of the electronic spectrum.
These FAST packs do have the ability to record some data and so can be used for reconnaissance but in general, they lack the memory and sensitivity to do much better than record and identify what emitters are present.
Bellcom packs on their 1-L’s are a little different from ours – they’re far more capable in the electronic environment for a start, but that’s another story.
To actually get a ‘take’ which can be used to develop a useful electronic signature takes a dedicated spacecraft with the appropriate sensors and memory capacity.
The Peacemakers we used originally could be flying laboratories, but were too slow to escape if attacked so needed a full escort wing with them.
Some Blackbirds were refit for their former role, with the missile compartments, cannon emplacements and zigs replaced. We call them Ravens. Some people like to call them Senior Citizen – as most of the frames are original-builds from ten years ago.
With a full crew aboard, these are still the mainstay of our ELINT and MASINT forces. They are still the fastest spacecraft in their weight class, still have the best sensor capability of any spacecraft we operate, and have five people huddled in the rear compartment to operate that equipment.
Since we built them, they’ve been upgraded and refit as technologies have changed. We’ve just recently added manadynamic capabilities to them. New engines let them keep up with the majority of strike forces.
These are spacecraft more concerned with the ‘take’, with gathering the most information possible, from as far out as possible. They datalink information to friendly spacecraft to advise on what threats are out there, and then either enable friendly to engage those threats electronically, or do so themselves.
They’ve enough radiative power that they can work on countering multiple threats at once, as effectively as a Phantasmagoria could counter one. We always had someone onboard who could work up new solutions against hardware that’d never been seen before, and implement it there and then running on the main computers as a software module. We also had VI support to help anyone be effective in an emergency.
The majority of our systems worked in hardware. That is, somebody went and built a chip, or a discrete component, that performed a very specific task. An application specific integrated circuit. This is still the most efficient way. General purpose computers can do the same thing, but doing it in software requires much more processing power.
Far more than can be fitted in an iPod or Phantasmagoria.
So, when that Blackbird or Peacemaker comes back to base, its ‘take’ makes it to my desk, where I analyse it, filter it, and work through it to come up with a countermeasure, or combination of countermeasures, that can be programmed into the next generation of iPods. There’s dozens of us working either with mockups of enemy systems, or prototyping out countermeasures using either raw computing power or FRASIC’s the we can flash and which are almost as fast as dedicated chips, but are I-could-buy-a-moon expensive.
The Foxhound is a little like my desk in a spacecraft. That does .19C.
It has a similar level of computing power to the Raven – coming up just a little bit short by virtue of being smaller. It has poorer sensor resolution and less radiative power. The IDAR array is unique, but it can only detect active drive fields, so doesn’t help against silent targets or anything flying ballistic.
In terms of raw technical capability, its specifications on paper are nothing to write home about. Even the astonishing speed is as a result of compromises in the engines on life and manageability.
It demands a pilot who understands propulsion systems and engineering, with some knowledge of aeronautics.
What makes it special and interesting is the onboard databus system called ‘Central Despatch’ that basically turns it into a high speed mobile laboratory and test rig. Every single function of the onboard computers, every hardware item, every sensor, every emitter, the navigation and autopilot system – even the weapons – are mapped into the computer’s file system with their own namespace, communicating using a common data pipe rather than through dedicated individual protocols.
And all of it is on-the-fly reprogrammable through a visual function-block interface. With real-time feedback so it’s possible to see the results of your program as you generate them.
Running them in software takes a lot of computer power so limits the amount of – or the speed of - simultaneous work you can do – but it’s also possible to add dedicated hardware items to the bus to do some common work. The spacecraft’s hardpoints can be tied into the databus, letting you add external processing power, or additional sensors or emitters, as required. Even the comm-system, if you want to share data with another bird, or map a sensor on that bird to your own system.
If you need more speed on some common operation, you can even flash routines you’ve written to a quartet of high performance FRASIC modules. Or export them in VHDL when you get back to the lab to build a hardware module capable of doing the same thing, then add that to an external hardpoint.
It’s a multiplier for a single operator, letting me do the work of a full crew.
There are technical drawbacks, of course. There is a cooling load to consider, and the cooling systems are vulnerable to enemy fire, or to overload if you are not careful with your thermal management.
It also relies on having an operator– an Information Systems Officer – who knows what they are doing, and understands what each individual module is supposed to actually do. There’s no ‘push-to-jam’ or ‘push-to-analyse’ – only the tools there for you to do the work.
They turned to us desk jockeys and researchers to find the right people. Nobody sits in the back seat of one of these without being an Old Crow – preferably with a few papers to your name in the Journal of Electronic Defence. It’s easier to train someone with a Crow badge to act as flight crew, than it is to train someone with flight experience, to act as a skilled Crow.
Which is why you will see very few, if any, of these anywhere. They gather in places only where you find just the right combination of skills. Most of the people who have those skills, often have the skills and backing to have built their own personal tools already.
But that’s not what attracted me to the Foxhound.
For the first time in my career, I can feel the battles I knew I’ve been fighting. It’s exciting to see the effects of your work in real time. To guide a missile to a target, or feel the thrill of discovering a new type of hardware, and defeating it before it can shoot us down.
Everyone needs to get out of the lab once in a while, and I can think of no better way.
-----
As a side note, if you’re feeling up for a challenge or would like a taster of what it takes to be a Crow flying one of these, try Aces High - a space combat simulator by the bird’s designer. A lot of what we do is heavily abstracted away, into a game of match the signatures, but there are still similarities. You still need to select the correct counter for each threat – although it does give you hints – and build up a program to link receiver through processes to output. And you need to watch your system loads, and how thin you’re spreading your capabilities. You can’t be effective against everything out there, as much as you’d like to try.
The real challenge in this mode is target identification and prioritisation. Some threats just aren’t worth defending against because they’re not really a threat. Others might kill you without you ever recognising the danger – like ARMS. It forces you to think and try to analyse.
But there is nothing more frustrating that not being able to apply a solution that I know works, but which the system won’t let me try because it’s designed for casuals.
You will also need to find someone to be your chauffeur. The AI pilot is a bit stupid.
I love the smell of rotaries in the morning. You know one time, I got to work early, before the rush hour. I walked through the empty carpark, I didn't see one bloody Prius or Golf. And that smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole carpark, smelled like.... ....speed.
One day they're going to ban them.