JOHN R. FOX TESTING RANGE, FORT HUACHUCA — More than 40 vendors demonstrated to Army and Joint Forces officials the equipment and technology that’s available to take the military into the next phase of fighting the enemy — electronic warfare.
Electronic warfare is any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponent the advantage of — and ensure friendly unimpeded access to — the EM spectrum.
Army officials said that Wednesday’s “technology expo” on post, called Vanguard 23, was an opportunity for vendors to show off the latest machinery, technology and systems that are currently available to help the modern warfighter.
The exercise — this is the second time it has been done on post — is designed to help Army and Joint Forces officials test technology designed to modernize the military and take it to the next level so it can stay on par with peer adversaries such as China.
Exercises simulating enemy signals and threats in the electromagnetic spectrum were being carried out at the John R. Fox Range Wednesday so that soldiers could test and train for the real thing if and when it occurs, officials said.
Last year during Vanguard 22, the first time the exercise took place, there was a simulation of enemy signals on the range so the new technology could be tested, said Fort Huachuca Commanding Gen. Tony Hale.
“(We had) about a dozen threat emitters, peer threat emitters, from our peer adversaries out in our range complex emanating their signals in the electromagnetic spectrum,” Hale said.
This year, Hale said, the exercise was on a greater scale.
“We wanted to increase our capability so we could look at what’s required for testing and training as we move forward for the Army of 2030,” he said. “So right now we have about 47 emitters both live, virtual and constructive out in the range complex.
“We have three dozen-plus emitters live in the range complex from both commercial industry partners from DOD (Department of Defense) and from the Army, as well as we have virtual capability feeding in virtual emitters where soldiers who are actually supporting the exercise can tell the difference between a live emitter and a virtual emitter.”
An emitter is a device that discharges a type of signal or other medium.
Hale said such simulation exercises are necessary so the Army can determine what it needs to combat its enemies in modern warfare.
“What we are trying to portray in the John R. Fox Range is a Combined Arms Brigade of the People’s Liberation Army of the People’s Republic of China. And that’s what we’re collecting right now,” Hale said. “What we’re doing is replicating what the Combined Arms Brigade would look like.”
One of the vendors on site Wednesday included Applied Research Corporation, a University of Arizona partner that helps the school “expand its research profile by facilitating access to defense security and intelligence research opportunities.”
Chris Fox, ARC’s vice president for business operations, stood next to a drone that looked like a large and sleek model airplane. The technology for the unmanned aerial system is still in the works, but once done, Fox said the drone would carry different technologies on its underside meant to detect enemy systems.
“In this case, this example would have cameras and it’s out there to sweep across the sky looking for decoys,” Fox said. “It’s identifying targets that are real as opposed to targets that are fake.
“If we have fake targets out there and we expend our ammunition on the fake targets then there will be no ammunition to go after the real targets. This is something that has happened before, so we would like to avoid it happening. Adversaries will put fake targets out there to cause us to do that.”
On April 3 Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly visited Fort Huachuca to discuss electronic warfare capabilities at the post, as well as testing and training at the installation, one of the Army’s most unique because of its location and terrain.
“What we are trying to do is increase our capability of testing and training on the John R. Fox range,” Hale said. “We want to do it for the joint force as well.”
He said Fort Huachuca, with Kelly’s collaboration, is working on expanding its airspace, a topic the senator touched on with the Herald/Review during his visit.
“We want to expand our airspace, which is 940 square miles above us, to 5,000 square miles,” Hale said.
Fort Huachuca’s geographic location makes it a prime spot for not only testing, but for training, something Kelly — who chairs the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee’s Airland Subcommittee — said he would definitely like to see more of at the installation.
Known as a “major range test facility,” Hale said Fort Huachuca’s terrain and electromagnetic spectrum, “allows us to do things here that you can’t do at other places in the continental United States.”
“For example, we have electronic warfare systems that are throwing out jamming signals against threat emitters,” Hale said. “We have systems putting out 4,000 watts of energy to jam a threat peer capability system.
“So Fort Huachuca, being surrounded by the Whetstones, the Chiricahuas and the Huachuca mountains, is down in a bowl here in Sierra Vista,” Hale added. “Without a large metropolitan area around us we can shoot electrons into the electromagnetic spectrum without bothering anyone in the community or outside the gates of Fort Huachuca. So this place is very special in what we can do in the electromagnetic spectrum.”