And the radar bombardier's job is not that difficult to comprehend. He uses his radar system, its computers and associated gear to locate his target(s), take precise aim and then guide his craft to the proper weapon release point. In some cases, he may even guide the weapon after release to the impact point by using laser, infrared or other sensors. That's not too difficult to comprehend. But here too automatic sensors and precision guidance systems are doing much of what radar navigators have traditionally done.

But what, pray tell, does an electronic countermeasures (ECM) or electronic warfare specialist actually do? Well, that's a complicated story. When you consider that the electromagnetic spectrum from low frequency communications radio waves to infrared and higher light waves are involved, the electronic warfare specialist has a lot to do. What he does is defined by the threats that his aircraft or warship faces.

Back in the early days, W.W.II and the immediate post-war years, the threats facing a bomber crew, for example, included enemy fighters guided by ground and airborne radar systems. There was the threat of anti-aircraft guns aimed by ground-based radar systems. And before long there were primitive air-to air missiles which homed in toward the bomber by radar. The job of the ECM specialist consisted of simple masking and deception techniques to confuse the enemy and limit his ability to find and track the bomber. Jamming techniques, using high-powered radio frequency transmitters, could deny ground and airborne search and tracking radars the necessary information on range, azimuth and elevation essential to effecting an intercept. Dropping chaff, bits of reflective metalized strips, could clutter enemy radar scopes and confuse real targets from false ones. And jamming radio communications channels could make it difficult for the enemy controller to guide interceptors to the attack.

ECM specialists in bomber aircraft, like our early B-50's, B-36's, B-47's and B-52's, had special receiver and transmitter equipment to use in identifying and countering what was basically only a radar threat. Skilled ECM operators would tune their receivers to detect and identify the various ground and airborne radar threats of immediate concern. Then they would tune their transmitters to jam enemy radar systems, denying them the essential range, azimuth and elevation information required to effect an intercept. The ECM operators became very adept at interpreting the radar signal environment around them. And then they would use jamming transmitters and/or chaff to confuse and frustrate the enemy, at least long enough for the bomber to get through and make its bomb drops.

On routine training missions our bomber crew ECM specialists practiced their skills by jamming U.S. early warning, ground control and ant-aircraft radar systems. The Air Defense Command (ADC) network of protection radars was quite extensive, especially around the perimeter of the U.S.. Crews were scored on how well they were able to jam or counter ADC systems.

As the "cold war" wore on between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, through the 1950's, 60's and 70's, both sides developed and deployed more sophisticated radar defenses and ECM gear. Surface to Air (SAM) missiles came along and greatly complicated matters. Then too came the development of infrared (IR) tracking and guidance systems. The job of defending our bombers and attack airplanes became more difficult as the electromagnetic spectrum threats widened. Flares were added to chaff as deceptive decoys, intended to fool IR guidance and missile systems on the ground and aboard airborne interceptors. Jamming communications became harder as digital links between ground controllers and interceptors replaced voice communications.

Radars themselves incorporated a variety of counter-countermeasures to mitigate the effects of noise jamming and chaff. In fact, the tide seemed to turn in favor of defensive systems threatening our bombers. Sophisticated and automatic "black boxes" were developed to give our ECM specialists more capabilities. Soon computers were doing the analysis of radar and infrared threat environments for the crew. And it wasn't long before automatic equipment was doing the more complex job of applying jamming and deception systems.