11/05/07
DEFENSE NEWS
China Conducts Electromagnetic Exercise
By WENDELL MINNICK, TAIWAN
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) concluded a weeklong live-fire exercise, dubbed “Iron Fist-2007,” on Nov. 2 in central China’s Henan Province. The exercise included a division of 10,000 troops from the Jinan Military Region. The exercise involved testing command and control, long-range maneuvers and electromagnetic warfare exercises.
Larry Wortzel, commissioner of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, explained that the exercise involved everything from traditional jamming to spoofing an enemy’s communications, cyber warfare and information warfare.
“They have electronic warfare regiments in all the military regions,” Wortzel said. “It means that they are practicing operating under conditions where they are under electromagnetic attack of their communications, data transmissions and radar, while they are practicing the same against an adversary.”
Thomas Kane, author of the book “Chinese Grand Strategy and Maritime Power,” explained that the phrase electromagnetic warfare has been surfacing regularly in Chinese military writings.
“I suspect that the term ‘electromagnetic warfare’ normally refers to what English speakers would call ‘electronic warfare,’” he said. “In other words, it refers to attempts to transmit and receive electromagnetic energy for military purposes while interfering with the enemy’s ability to do likewise.
“Examples would include radar, radio communications, interception of enemy radio communications, encryption of friendly radio communications, jamming, spoofing, passive detection of enemy electromagnetic emissions, etc.”
Chinese military writers have been claiming that “the electromagnetic battle will densely cover all naval battle space, penetrating all combat operations,” Kane said.
