Rear Adm. Tim Gallaudet, commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, released his command's Electromagnetic Maneuver Warfare Strategy March 9.
The electromagnetic spectrum is an unseen but integral part of the Navy. Naval Forces rely upon electromagnetic propagation to operate communications systems and data transfer networks.
The fleet's weapons systems use radar, electro-optical and laser sensing systems.
"The electromagnetic (EM) environment is so fundamental to naval operations and our national interests that future conflicts will not be won simply by using the EM spectrum of cyberspace, they will be won within them," Gallaudet said in the foreword to the six-page strategy.
For decades, Navy oceanographers have assisted the undersea warfare community by observing, modeling and predicting how the ocean affects sound waves traveling through the water. Now, with the EMW strategy, they will expand upon these capabilities and provide the same level of expertise for predicting how electromagnetic waves will move through the physical battlespace.
The major goals of the EMW strategy are:
- Influence development of the Navy's electromagnetic maneuver warfare capabilities.
- Improve Naval Oceanography's environmental sensing and prediction capabilities.
- Integrate electromagnetic environmental impacts into the Navy's decision-making process.
Specific objectives include coordinating and expanding partnerships to build environmental awareness into warfare systems and tactical decision aids while continually updating these technologies.
The document also provides for creating advanced environmental sensing capabilities for the most critical lower portion of the atmosphere while improving high-resolution and time-sensitive ocean-atmospheric capabilities for forward-deployed forces and leveraging high-performance computing to quickly and accurately map EM propagation paths.
Additionally, the strategy proposes integrating EM environmental impacts into the fleet's tactics, techniques and procedures through increased cooperation with information warfare, warfighting development centers, the Naval Warfare Development Command, and Carrier Strike Groups 4 and 15.
New capabilities will be demonstrated during exercises and war games. Naval Oceanography's Maritime Operations Center will provide the fleet MOCs and joint task commanders with physical battlespace awareness to maximize EMW exploitation.
Fleet and Naval Oceanography personnel will be trained to understand how to describe and exploit the environment for EMW operations and decision making. Naval Oceanography personnel will increase their training through the Naval Oceanography Professional Development Center and the Naval Education and Training Command.
"Occupying the high ground is a significant tactical advantage in any battlespace," Gallaudet said. "In today's crowded electromagnetic spectrum and increasingly networked systems, we must understand the terrain of the electromagnetic spectrum and exploit that high ground to our overwhelming advantage. It's one more way that Naval Oceanography provides the home-field advantage to the fleet's away games."
Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command directs and oversees the collection, processing and exploitation of accurate, relevant and timely oceanographic, meteorological, hydrographic, precise time and astrometric information.
COMNAVMETOCCOM is assigned as CTG 80.7 under U.S. Fleet Forces Command, and is part of the information warfare community.
Naval Oceanography includes approximately 2,500 globally distributed military and civilian personnel.