AOC Europe Attendees Learn More Details about European EW Coalition 

	Commander von Spreckelsen

The second day of AOC Europe opened with a briefing from Commander Malte von Spreckelsen, Deputy Branch Head for Strategic Planning within the Cyber and Information Domain Service of the German Armed Forces. In his talk, he discussed some of the lessons European nations are taking from the Russo-Ukrainian War, as well as providing more details about the Electromagnetic Warfare Capability Coalition established in April by the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG).

Commander von Spreckelsen said the Russo-Ukrainian War has shown the value of Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations, especially with regard to drones; EW protection from jamming; emitter targeting; and missile defense operations that include GNSS jamming.

On the other hand, Ukrainian Forces have also learned hard lessons about electromagnetic fratricide and the need to coordinate EW operations between units operating on the front lines. The electromagnetic fratricide issue is due in part to the number of commercial drone technologies employed by both Ukrainian and Russian forces that often use the same limited sets of frequencies. Thus, jamming a Russian drone can sometimes affect Ukrainian drones operating in the same areas.

Commander von Spreckelsen said another problem for Ukrainian Forces has been EM interoperability, which stems from the variety of EW, communications and radar systems provided to Ukraine units from other countries. "A lot of companies, lot of nations, donated EW systems, donated capabilities which are good," he explained. "They are brought to the front line; they get used; they have a purpose. However, a German system might be not interoperable with a Swedish system, [or] with an Italian system. This is a challenge we have, as well, in NATO – to try to bring a multinational EW force under the umbrella of NATO or the EU together and have interoperability on the first day – it will not match."

Commander von Spreckelsen also provided more details about the EW Coalition established under the UDCG. Ten nations signed the joint letter of intent that established the EW Capability Coalition, with Germany acting as the lead nation and coordinator in the group. He emphasized that Ukraine is not the "receiver" of the group's activities, but rather that all 10 nations are equal partners, and Ukraine is an active participant that is sharing its first-hand knowledge and experience from the front lines, as well as testing and evaluating new systems in "live fire" conditions. He also explained that the EW group is a "coalition of the willing" and is open to adding new members among the 50 nations participating in the UDCG.

The EW Coalition is initially focusing its efforts on three priorities, with each of these falling under a "sub-working group." The first priority is aimed at rapidly procuring new EW capabilities for Ukrainian forces. The sub-working group for this priority is discussing the EW capabilities already identified by Ukraine in a white paper. It will use this discussion to identify specific EW systems that the coalition members can provide to meet those capability needs. For example, he said, one of the top priorities Ukraine identified is defending drones against jammers.

A second sub-working group is addressing EW training and education. "They don't need to train in the basics of EW," he explained. "They are very good at it. They don't need to [receive] an awareness briefing that when you switch on your cell phone you might get hit by a shell." He said the Ukrainian forces are already very good at "frontline EW." Instead, he continued, "What they need is training of leadership – is education on an academic level. They want to train and develop expertise for EW because, as I said before, they want to enhance their innovation cycle. They want to be in the position to push forward, to work, to invent their own [EW solutions] which [are] fit for purpose. And they need access to our universities, to academia, to all of us to gain knowledge to sustain [themselves] in this conflict."

The EW Coalition's third sub-working group is focused on policy and doctrine. "The capability coalitions are not just made to support ad hoc problems – to deliver materiel. This is an ongoing thing, a long-term thing, because if this conflict ends one day – hopefully soon – they want to involve [themselves in EW] further. They want to know how to integrate the EW forces into brigade level, corps level. They want to know how to [conduct] EW command and control, how to [support] electromagnetic operations like [other European nations]. They want to be interoperable with us. They want to have at the end, in peacetime, very capable EW forces. For this they need our help." – JED Staff