As far as i recall, the offensive electronic measure usually composes of very strong interference at the same frequency of target, due to complex frequency hopping measures by modern radars it is not that easy to succeed in damaging a system this way. The more spectrum a jamming device needs to interfere with the less power at each frequency within the spectrum it shall be able to throw at the target device. This limits the chance of damaging the target system though it shall still degrade the performance of the target system.
If the frequency pattern of the radar can be predicted then the objective is to concentrate the energy at those frequencies and bombard the target system with enough energy to take the target system beyond its limits in the receive path and desensitize it or damage it permanently this way.
I honestly did not know one can attack a radar system with a virus in combat...how would the target radar be made to receive and execute a software routine which damages its DSP?
The digital signal processor may be corrupted with a virus but how would it enter the software subsystem?
UAV receives its instructions via a remote station so yes it is much easier to disrupt its communication but to damage (not disrupt) a radar/electronic suite of an advanced combat aircraft is quite a tricky thing to achieve!
Just curious, even though i am quite out of touch but still an engineer.
USAF Building Disruptor Capability Right Now
by James Dunnigan
The U.S. Air Force doesn't say much about its work on high-powered microwave (HPM) weapons. But recently the air force asked defense firms to bid on a contract to build CHAMP (Counter-Electronics HPM Advanced Missile Project). The air force wants a missile (or a pod for aircraft) that can give off several burst of HPM (that will damage or destroy any electronic gear within a certain range), and thus take out several targets. This CHAMP contract will pay $40 million to the winning bid, and allow 36 months to come up with a weapon that works. If that is accomplished, the CHAMP system would be in service within 4-5 years.
Meanwhile, quietly, and without much fanfare, the U.S. Air Force has been equipping some of its fighters with electronic ray type weapons. Not quite the death ray of science fiction fame, but an electronic ray type weapon none the less. In this case, the weapon uses the high-powered microwave (HPM) effects found in Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar technology. These radars have been around a long time, popular mainly for their ability deal with lots of targets simultaneously. But AESA is also able to focus a concentrated beam of radio energy that could scramble electronic components of a distant target. Sort of like the EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) put out by nuclear weapons.
The air force won't, for obvious reasons, discuss the exact kill range of the of the various models of AESA radars on American warplanes (the F-15, F-35 and F-22 have them). However, it is known that range in this case is an elastic thing. Depending on how well the target electronics are hardened against EMP, more electrical power will be required to do damage. Moreover, the electrical power of the various AESA radars in service varies as well. The air force has said that the larger AESA radar it plans to install on its E-10 radar aircraft would be able to zap cruise missile guidance systems up to 180 kilometers away. The E-10 AESA is several times larger than the one in the F-35 (the largest in use now), so make your own estimates. Smaller versions of this technology would arm the CHAMP system
What would an E-10 AESA radar do to a warplanes systems at 180 miles if it could zap a cruise miissile at 180 miles. Todays war planes might be like bows and arrows against machine guns or lazers.