To do so, the air service is looking to adopt live, virtual and constructive training, which allows the military to be able to insert replicated and simulated capabilities in live training environments for a more realistic feel for warfighters.

Enhancing LVC has been a big push in the non-kinetic realm, especially electronic warfare, given the jamming signals require lengthy coordination with domestic agencies to prevent disruption to civilian services such as comminutions or even airplanes and the desire for adversaries not to collect on some of these advanced waveforms to develop countermeasures against them.

“In the live construct, I will tell you, it’s difficult. I mean, we have adversaries that are out there taking a look at us when we’re operating live. They want to collect on us so that they have their own databases to basically counter us when we actually get into a kinetic fight,” Col. Larry Fenner, commander of the 350^th Spectrum Warfare Wing, said at the Mitchell Institute Airpower Futures Forum on Wednesday.  

Created in 2021, the 350^th has three main areas of focus: rapid reprogramming; target and waveform development; and assessment of Air Force EW capabilities.

Adversaries such as Russia and China have keenly observed U.S. military bases and exercises to be able to collect certain signals. Russia has sought to monitor exercises in Europe while China has set up surveillance outposts as close to the U.S. mainland as Cuba, meant to hoover up valuable digital intelligence.

To shield from this, Fenner wants more augmented reality capabilities to train with.

“How do you train in the cockpit and provide that warfighter the training that they need? That’s going to be difficult because the more you build up your ranges, you can put overhead and things like that to collect on these particular ranges,” Fenner said. “For me and my team, we’re taking a look at augmented reality. How do I insert that particular combat scenario into that cockpit without leaking out what information I’m actually training against or I have the information radiating out of my aircraft so my adversary never can collect on it, but we get quality training for our warfighters to operate in that environment for the virtual construct, for the joint simulation environment?”

The newly established 950^th Spectrum Warfare Group, which officially stood up at the end of October and is focused on combat electronic warfare assessments, will be taking this challenge head-on.  

“We just set up the 950^th Spectrum Warfare Group and that is the group that is going to specifically get after our EW assessments, whether it’s in the live, the virtual or the modeling and sim constructs, that’s where we’re going to make an aggressive push to identify where those gaps and seams are, whether it’s in our training, whether it’s in our capabilities, whether it’s in our tactics, techniques and procedures, and highlight those so we can report those up to higher echelon,” Fenner said. “I have pushed for the 950^th Spectrum Warfare Group … to go take a look at the JSC and see where we can introduce better capabilities to get a better, I would say the truth data, on how well our systems are operating within that environment. Because if we’re not truly training like we fight because we’re not turning systems on, we’re not training against specific threats, then are we truly prepared for that pacing challenge threat.”

Fenner noted the Air Force is also looking at enhancing modeling and simulation capabilities to improve the fidelity of training.

“Gone are days where we take a system and we put a couple of testers on it and we introduce it one vs. one against a threat. That’s not how we’re going to fight and that is not the environment that that system is going to operate in and provide defensive capabilities or offensive capabilities for that warfighter,” he explained. “It has to be a many-on-many dynamic capability that has truthful red data from the intelligence community to make sure that that system is radiated and then true blue data in that system so that we’re not missing things because of classification levels and things like that. We have a true representation of what that system is going to do in that warfighting scenario and get the truth done.”

Industry is excited about the push to improve training, particularly with more modeling and simulation and LVC.

“Now we have the ability to go faster because we have the modeling and simulation capability to do it and we want to help with that. We also have the ability to do it at a lower cost because we can now run it through a lot more modeling and sim before we start going through live fly and live development,” Chris Moeller, head of Air and Space Force customer requirements at BAE Systems, said at the same event. “This is something that’s been missing for a very long time and has driven to higher costs and I would say, less trust by the warfighter in their electronic warfighting systems. EW is add-on in your tactics and techniques, to where you go ‘I’ll also run some EW, but I’m going to run my tactic based off ranges and the weapons I have because I don’t know if it’s actually going to be working.’ If we can build that trust in the virtual construct, in the virtual environment, then suddenly these systems become something that is not just an add-on, but is driving our tactics, techniques because our warfighters can rely on it.”

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The Air Force uncased the colors in a ceremony at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, for the activation of the 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing Detachment 1 and 87th Electronic Warfare Squadron Detachment 1, which will both be focused primarily on assessment. They fall beneath the 350^th Spectrum Warfare Wing, which was created in 2021 as a result of the Air Force’s landmark electromagnetic spectrum study to reinvigorate spectrum within the service. The 350th has three primary missions: rapid reprogramming, target and waveform development, and assessment of the Air Force’s EW capabilities.

The two new detachments will contribute to the creation of the 950^th Spectrum Warfare Group, which is aimed at enhancing the Air Force electronic warfare assessment programs.

“In my opinion, the group we’re building here today at Robins Air Force Base … has the potential to be the most important of our wing’s three missions,” Col. Joshua Koslov, commander of the 350^th, said during the activation ceremony. “The reason for that is that in order to fight this, the conflicts of the future, we’re going to have to know how well we can execute within the contested spectrum in the EW world. And the way we’re going to do that is rigorous assessment, which is a mission set that while we do today, it’s not on the level we need to in the 21st century.”

These assessments will focus on readiness and ensuring systems are capable of successfully engaging in future battles against high-end adversaries.

The electromagnetic spectrum has grown in strategic importance in recent years. Nations such as China and Russia have observed how much the U.S. military depends on it for precision-guided munitions, navigation and communication, and they have sought capabilities to deny access to it.

Future battlefields are expected to be highly contested in the spectrum as each side will seek to jam and deny each other access.

“I want to emphasize the words of the commander of [Air Combat Command], Gen. Mark Kelly, who said if we don’t achieve security in the spectrum, that our forces are going to lose and we’re going to lose fast. The superiority is assured through assessment, which is the mission we’ll be doing here at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia,” Koslov said. “The world’s a dangerous place, we all know that, current events dictates that. While war is not inevitable, the best way to avoid war is to being able to overmatch our opponents with so much capability that they don’t even want to try. That is what the 950^th Spectrum Warfare Group is going to bring to us today.”

The wing and group will help establish deterrence of adversary activity, though not through traditional combat power.

“What we need to assess is what are our gaps and seams relative to our adversary and then fill those gaps and seams and then make sure our adversary understands that we filled them, we filled our weaknesses at a rate faster than they can find new ones,” he told reporters. “That’s really the game. The spectrum has never been about overwhelming dominance. The spectrum has always been about moving faster than your opponent, and that’s what the assessment mission is going to provide us the capability to do.”

The wing will continue to invest in its own intelligence personnel while also working with others in the intelligence community to develop capabilities and intelligence required for spectrum warfare to inform leaders on adversary capabilities.

In addition to assessing offensive and defensive EW systems for the Air Force, the group will design techniques and methodologies to assess force packaging and large exercises to allow the service to increase its lethality.

The incoming commander of the detachments noted he wants to help create problems for adversaries in the spectrum.

“The day without spectrum is a bad day, and that’s precisely what we intend on giving our enemies. But the only way we can make sure that it will work and that it’ll all work together when it really counts, is going to be through the hard work that the 950^th Spectrum Warfare Group is going to do as soon as it gets stood up here in a couple of months,” Lt. Col. Ryan Cox said during the ceremony.

Koslov told reporters after the ceremony that he has accelerated the timeline for the group to stand up.

“The 950th will complete its programmed growth that’s funded today in 2027. However, we’re accelerating the actual standup by almost three years … by fully standing up the group next summer,” he said.

Cox explained that the 350^th Spectrum Warfare Wing detachment 1 is the feeder entity for the 950^th and will deactivate the moment that the 950^th activates. The 87^th Electronic Warfare Squadron detachment 1 is the first initial squadron for the group that will conduct large force assessments.

“The wing detachment turns into the group, the squadron detachment turns into its own squadron — and that’s how we are going to be growing that from an organizational standpoint,” Cox said.

Koslov noted that the wing essentially touches the entirety of the Air Force as it provides combat capability to over 70 platforms.

“That’s basically every single aircraft in our inventory, our weapons system in our inventory — all of it touches the hands of the crows that stood up before you today. We’re not just one wing, we’re every wing in the United States Air Force,” he said.

However, in the future, he wants to see the service shift from a platform-centric model to a more enterprise-focused model.

“The number one need I really need is an integrated EW program executive office, PEO, because right now, today, I reprogram over — I work on over 70 platforms and that’s across more than 25 [system program offices],” he said. “If you’re thinking about the type of capability we’re developing, which is rapid and agile, that requires a level of interoperability and integration. That’s really hard to manage when there’s not one person who’s doing that on the acquisition side. While I do have a very strong relationship on the platform side, a platform-centric model is not the model that will beat China.”

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The detachments are part of the 950^th Spectrum Warfare Group, which sits beneath the 350^th Spectrum Warfare Wing. This first-of-its-kind wing, created in 2021, is focused on three missions: rapid reprogramming, target and waveform development, and assessment of Air Force EW capabilities.

The 950^th — which will be based at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia — will enhance the Air Force electronic warfare assessment programs, according to a spokesperson. It will be responsible for the Combat Shield mission, the primary electronic warfare assessment team for the Air Force. That Combat Shield mission is currently assigned to the 87^th Electronic Warfare Squadron.

“They’re going to be focused on everything from platform-specific readiness to large-force exercise employment and assessment, getting into [tactics, techniques and procedures] development, and write down some of these things that will be in the future,” Col. Joshua Koslov, commander of the 350^th, said of the group, in a podcast hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

The Air Force — along with much of the joint force — had taken its eye off the ball within the electromagnetic spectrum for years. Now, there is greater focus on its importance and emphasis on capabilities that can be critical to gaining an advantage against adversaries.

Regarding assessments, the four functions the group will perform include developing comprehensive EW assessment methodologies to assess combat readiness and effectiveness of Air Force, joint and coalition systems; executing real time or near-real time large force exercise live-flight and virtual assessments across all global combatant commands and ensure assessment of electromagnetic spectrum operations employment; executing EW effectiveness assessments for aircraft and applicable EW systems onboard; and developing and verifying the combined effectiveness of integrated electromagnetic spectrum operation across multi-mission design series Air Force packages and multi-domain force packages, according to the spokesperson.

Officials note that the group will have a military-wide impact by improving readiness and effectiveness, developing tactics and procedures for the joint force, and informing operation plan development and sustainment efforts that provide critical insights to combatant commanders.

“The 950th Spectrum Warfare Group will provide the DOD the capability to verify EW readiness through assessment for all aircraft types as well as the cumulative effectiveness of integrated strike packages. This effort benefits combatant commander, [Air Force major commands], warfighters and better informs the acquisition enterprise for future decision-making,” the spokesperson said. “The 950th Spectrum Warfare Group aims to bring a critical factor of assessment to the EW enterprise that will directly result in the readiness of our fleet’s EW capabilities, assuring our warfighters and partners … and deterring our adversaries.”

Updated on Oct. 5, 2023 at 2:30 PM: This story has been updated to reflect that the Air Force is activating two detachments. A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the Air Force is activating two squadrons.

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