Strategy: Achieving EMS Superiority

Strategy: Achieving EMS Superiority

electromagnetic spectrum, Photo illus. soldiers by US National Archives

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The US Department of Defense’s air, land, maritime, space, and cyberspace operations depend on the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS). In the midst of commercial advances, and an increasingly contested, congested, and denied spectrum environment, the Department is committed to prioritizing warfighters’ freedom of action and achieving spectrum superiority while supporting the Nation’s economic competitiveness.

The US Department of Defense wants to achieve “freedom of action in the electromagnetic spectrum, at the time, place, and parameters of our choosing.” For the implementation of this vision, the Secretary of Defense Lloyd James Austin III has recently signed the 2020 Electromagnetic Spectrum Superiority Strategy’s Implementation Plan (EMSSS I-Plan). 

“Today’s EMS Superiority Strategy combined our electromagnetic warfare and spectrum equities for the first time ever,” said Air Force Gen. John E. Hyten, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  “The Strategy’s I-Plan provides direction to the Department to accomplish the Strategy’s goals and objectives and realize the vision. Future challenges require us to fight and win in the EMS from the beginning, and commanders must plan to win the EMS in their area of responsibility. The Strategy’s I-Plan sets us on a path to dominate the future battlespace. While the services are organizing, training, and equipping better for EMS, we have more work to do. We are determined to get there and achieve spectrum superiority in all domains.”

Due to the rapid pace of EMS technology development, DoD must continually reassess, develop, and adopt new capabilities, techniques, training, and enterprise-level integration across the Department and with international and domestic partners, according to defense.gov.