A report on the most important Egyptian airborne electronic warfare weapons

[The SC]

The Egyptian armed forces possesses an important arsenal of electronic warfare equipment aimed at electronic reconnaissance of hostile electronic systems and means, disrupting the work of these systems and the electronic means, opposing hostile electronic reconnaissance, and stabilizing the work of friendly electronic systems under the conditions of enemy use of reconnaissance work, and electronic jamming.

SPECTRA

The highly advanced electronic warfare package for the Rafale fighter calls “SPECTRA” or “self-protection equipment against threats surrounding the Rafale aircraft”, one of the best electronic warfare packages for fighters in the world, which implements various tasks from passive monitoring, warning, electronic intelligence, integrated protection, defensive and offensive jamming, And even passive targeting against hostile combat platforms as well.

This system consists of the following:

1- DBEM Détection et Brouillage Electromagnétique and SIGINT Signal Intelligence / ELINT Electronic Intelligence to intercept hostile radar and wireless signals from a distance of up to 250 km and identify, localize and prioritize them from a distance of up to 200 km (Works as a radar monitor) with the guidance of the basic radar or the optical / thermal monitoring and tracking system for the target position with an error rate of less than 1 ° only and works within the range of 360 ° to detect all potential hostilities from different directions, and it can also work in a passive detection pattern against ground-based air defense radars. To determine their locations and compare them with the terrain data to guide the pilot to the safest paths away from the radar detection ranges, in addition to that, he draws high-precision ground maps such as radar, and can even convert everything he observes into a target for the fighter’s weapons to direct without the need to operate the radar itself and in conjunction with Thermal monitoring and tracking system to maintain the stealth feature.

2- The DECM jamming system consists of 3 AESA antennas with 3 jamming modes offensive, defensive and stealth (the stealth mode reduces the Rafale’s footprint through analysis and deception against hostile radar waves to prevent them from bouncing back to the transmitter in what is known as Deception Jamming) The field surrounding the fighter is 360°, and each antenna can use Thin Beam technology to selectively jam the radars of enemy fighters or air defense radars, and it can also work against more than one radar at the same time, as it is used to jam the active radar searchers of missiles.

3- The DDM-NG Détecteur de Départ Missile Nouvelle Génération system, which is an infrared anti-missile warning system with thermal guidance, and it consists of two fish-eye-shaped thermal sensors installed on both sides of the fighter’s rudder that work to monitor and identify approaching missiles and provide a 360° detection angle, and can also be used to guide weapons (it can fire and direct munitions or air-to-air missiles against targets at an angle of 360° around the fighter) or launch active thermal jamming devices in the future DIRCM Directional Infrared Countermeasures The system is passive and does not emit any emissions The location of the fighter is revealed.


EC-130H Compass Call

It is originally the famous C-130 American military transport plane, and it has been converted into an electronic war plane at the request of Egypt. Egypt is the only country after the United States of America that owns this type of aircraft, and Egypt owns 2 of them. It is an aircraft specialized in electronic warfare systems. The aircraft performs electronic jamming against air defense systems and early warning of the enemy within the means of electronic warfare, as it is considered an alternative operations room in case the main operations room of the armed forces is hit. It also contains 3 main communication channels from the satellite, each channel It has a main (240 sub-channels) secured and encrypted in addition to the missions of “EW” or (electronic warfare) and missions of (information warfare) or “IW” and (internet wars). The aircraft performs the tasks of controlling and jamming (radio and television networks, where the aircraft can infiltrate alone At relatively close distances from the enemy and at the same time a safe distance from the enemy’s defenses, it determines the frequencies of radio and television emissions, and during the natural pauses of radio and television programs and the natural breaks between programs, the aircraft transmits radio and television broadcasts from its equipment and it is very difficult for listeners to notice this .


Beechcraft 1900C

Egypt owns 10 planes, which is a modified version of the electronic warfare and espionage missions of the mother transport plane. The plane is next to the C-130 and Hawk planes, the second component of the electronic warfare nerve of the Egyptian Air Force. It specializes in reconnaissance, aerial survey and intelligence tasks. The plane owns the integrated indicative intelligence package The ES5000 model is characterized by a remote electronic intercept range of up to 350 km at an altitude of 10 km with high accuracy in determining directions and locations through hostile radar and radio emissions, in addition to intercepting electronic signals issued by hostile systems, classifying and prioritizing them from the most dangerous to The least dangerous and the interception of signals and communications between military personnel and command centers.


E-2C-2000 Hawkeye

Egypt owns 9 aircraft, and the aircraft has an airborne early warning radar AN/APS-145, with a maximum range of 640 km and it can monitor combat aircraft from a distance of up to 550 km, monitor and track 2,000 targets and direct 40 interception and aerial bombardment missions simultaneously. Disability and electronic noise works. The aircraft operates in various weather conditions, day and night, and can stay in the air for 6 hours, and fly at altitudes of up to 10,500 meters.


Electronic warfare systems on the Egyptian MiG-29M2/Mig-35


They are fifth-generation systems, the most important of which is the SPJ Self-Protection Jammer on both sides of the front of the fighter and below the rear of the rudder for obstruction and electronic noise, which is a very sophisticated Italian-Russian system.

There is also an external MSP-418K jamming pod, and it works with Digital Radio Frequency Memory DRFM technology for deception jamming against radars and radar missile detectors.

We will not talk about them longer, it suffices to say that they are intended to work on the fifth generation stealth fighter Su57.


Westland Commando and Mi-17V5 Helicopters


It has been specially modified and equipped to serve in electronic warfare missions. Where 4 helicopters were built from the electronic warfare version of the Westland Commando helicopter for the Egyptian Air Force, called Commando Mk.2E, and were equipped with Electronic Support Measures to carry out the tasks:

- Electronic Intelligence ELINT to reconnaissance and intercept the enemy’s radar detection means, determining their locations and directions, and categorizing them based on their strength and danger.

- Communications Intelligence COMINT to reconnaissance and intercept the enemy’s means of communication, locating and decoding them, and knowing their content.

The helicopter was also equipped with electronic jamming systems (Jammers), which were distributed - including electronic support systems - on the sides and top of the hull, as shown in the first picture.

There is also an unknown number of Russian Mi-17V5/Mi-8 helicopters dedicated to electronic warfare missions to carry out intelligence, obstruction and electronic noise.


And what has been shown is in the airspace only, as Egypt owns the latest ground-based electronic warfare stations in the world and has a very large and very secret cooperation with China. Also, Egypt launched 4 satellites, including one Taiba satellite, which specializes in those fields of EW. This satellite caused panic in Israel, The Egyptian Navy has one of the most powerful systems specialized in electronic warfare as well, and all of these systems work in harmony and integration as if they were one system.


https://www.defense-arabic.com/2021/03/14/تقرير-عن-أهم-أسلحة-الحرب-الإلكترونية-ا/