From: Joint E3 Bulletin, by Robert A. Pfeffer, US Army Nuclear and CWMD Agency
This article provides the reader my perspective on the evolving DoD E3 control requirements and their immediate implications to new military acquisitions. Specific examples are taken from the author's experience in the Army High-Altitude EMP (HEMP) Survivability Program.
The recent 21st Century conflicts have brought significant change to the way the Department of Defense (DoD) thinks and fights. The threat has clearly changed, and with it the way the DoD is structured. One consistent thread between Cold War 21st century conflicts is the reliance on new technologies to improve military fighting capability. By far, the most dramatic revolution in technology has been improved semiconductor technology. With it, subsystems havde physically shrunk even while their capabilities have improved with lower power requirements.
At present, the strategic advantage of just using high tech to create "shock and awe" on concentrations of adversaries is gone. Our military must now use high-tech in the extended battlefield to respond to small concentrations of adversaries who themselves use high tech commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) electronics to communicate and detonate conventional munitions or relatively unsophisticated chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons.
Congress, in establishing the 2004 EMP Commission, reiterated its concern for homeland security by raising the specific issue of HEMP protection (and by inference E3 protection) of our national assets, especially those supporting critical missions. That concern, plus the enforcement of the pending DoDI 3222.3, will have a significant impact on Service acquisitions.
New Army acquisitions that have a nuclear survivability requirement must, at a minimum, survive the HEMP environment specified in MIL-STD-2169B. Over the years, it has been demonstrated that HEMP requirements, if built into the upfront system design, will significantly reduce cost incursions. A survey of legacy equipment acquisition programs showed that when the protection is designed in, the nuclear survivability requirement is met for about three percent of the total system cost. Of that three percent, HEMP hardening costs typically accounted for only one percent. This modest increase in per-unit cost usually means few program managers request a HEMP criteria waiver.
Commercial industry electronics and electrical equipment are at the forefront of providing advanced technology for military applications. For the military, however, nuclear survivability requirements pose potential pitfalls in general when applying COTS material solutions. In the commercial arena, equipment life expectancy is four years or less in relatively benign environments, while military equipment is used in harsh battlefield environments that include severe electromagnetic environments. Such recognition has prompted the DoD to direct additional requirements on all COTS electronic and electrical systems that support critical missions. Among these is the requirement that they operate in a wide range of electromagnetic environments and are protected from associated electromagnetic environmental effects (E3), including the HEMP environment.
To address this issue, the draft DoD Instruction (DoDI), "Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Survivability of Mission Critical Systems" and draft DoDI 3222.3, "DoD E3 Program" when issued, will strengthen nuclear survivability protection within the DoD acquisition process. Together they will require stricter E3 protection for nearly all military electronic and electrical systems. In addition, by addressing E3 protection in these instructions, developers will be encouraged to reduced [sic] costs by addressing all EMEs (i.e, EMP, ESD, lightning, HPM, etc,) in a holistic approach addressed by QSTAG 1051 and employed in the civilian aircraft development community.
