Electronic Weapons: April 8, 2001

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The Electronic Warfare community has been on short rations since the end of the Cold War. Most ECM funding prior to that was for dealing with the growing Soviet electronic arsenal. But with China taking apart one of the crown jewels of American ECM (an EP-3), there is now an opportunity to gain a lot more funding to restore America's lead in this vital area. China was gaining ground in the electronic warfare because of modern systems purchased from Russia. This was one of the main reasons why the EP-3 was patrolling off China in the first place. Now that that Chinese have gained some insight into how America discovers enemy electronic warfare capabilities, China can better protect those secrets. Unless, of course, America develops and fields and new generation of ECM detection and analysis equipment.