En el desierto de las afueras de Agadir, las tropas estadounidenses y marroqu\u00edes est\u00e1n poniendo a prueba nuevas tecnolog\u00edas y t\u00e1cticas de guerra electr\u00f3nica. Se trata de una peque\u00f1a pero vital parte de un esfuerzo largamente esperado para restaurar y actualizar las capacidades que se desmantelaron despu\u00e9s de la Guerra Fr\u00eda. Con una combinaci\u00f3n de globos aerost\u00e1ticos de alta tecnolog\u00eda y de gran altitud, y tres tipos muy diferentes de drones, un batall\u00f3n de la 2.\u00aa Fuerza de Tareas Multidominio del Ej\u00e9rcito de Estados Unidos est\u00e1 practicando c\u00f3mo buscar radares y transmisores de radio enemigos, triangular sus ubicaciones precisas y luego desactivarlos.<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON \u2014 In the desert outside of Agadir, American and Moroccan troops are putting new electronic warfare technology and tactics to the test. It\u2019s a small but vital piece of a\u00a0long-overdue effort<\/a>\u00a0to restore and update\u00a0capabilities disbanded after the Cold War<\/a>.<\/p>\n With a combination of high-tech, high-altitude balloons, and three very different types of drones, a battalion of the US Army\u2019s\u00a02nd Multi-Domain Task Force<\/a>\u00a0is practicing how to hunt for enemy radars and radio transmitters, triangulate their precise locations, and then shut them down. That might mean temporarily, using the battalion\u2019s own drone-borne jammers, or permanently, using lethal drones \u2014 or by passing the coordinates to the MDTF\u2019s in-house artillery, whose first\u00a0long-range missile launchers<\/a>\u00a0are\u00a0just entering service<\/a>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the \u201ccore function\u201d of the blandly named Multi-Domain Effects Battalion, said the unit\u2019s commander, Lt. Col. Aaron Ritzema: \u201cWe \u2018find and fix\u2019 any potential target that we then pass on for further effects,\u201d he told the\u00a0NDIA Emerging Technologies conference<\/a>\u00a0via a live video feed from Morocco.<\/p>\n In essence, he said, it\u2019s the same job that scouts and light cavalry have done for army commanders since ancient times \u2014 but with radically updated tools. Instead of only searching for the foe on land, he said, the battalion performs \u201cmulti-domain reconnaissance\u201d that combines everything from aerial drones to cybersecurity software to satellite feeds.<\/p>\n The ongoing binational exercise, Arcane Thunder, is just the second such wargame for the three-year-old 2nd MDTF. \u00a0Arcane Thunder 24<\/a>\u00a0is already much more ambitious than the unit\u2019s inaugural field exercise last year, which was held in\u00a0Central Europe<\/a>. In 2023,\u00a0the Germany-based battalion could drive from its Wiesbaden barracks to exercise sites in Poland, Ritzema recounted, whereas getting to Morocco required coordinating the movement of people, equipment, and supplies by sea and air. Last time, Polish participation in the exercise was very limited, but this year, he said, \u201cthe Moroccans are fully integrated.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a major opportunity to strengthen cooperation,\u201d said Major Mouad Zerrik, a Moroccan signal officer with 20 years\u2019 experience in the\u00a0Royal Armed Forces<\/a>. The Moroccans\u2019 involvement began with early planning and concepts of operation, moved to classroom training in electronic and cyber warfare, and now has them in the field alongside Americans working with drones and portable EW equipment.<\/p>\n Because the entire exercise is limited to unclassified information \u2014 the scenario being simulated was actually developed for an earlier Moroccan wargame \u2014 the two countries are even able to share data nigh-instantly on a common network, Ritzema said. Specifically, they\u2019re using the publicly available\u00a0WinTAK<\/a>\u00a0software, a civilian Windows version of the famed\u00a0Android Tactical Assault Kit<\/a>. (Scaling up such near-instantaneous sharing of battlefield information to allies worldwide is one key piece \u2014 the \u201ccombined<\/a>\u201d \u2014 in the Pentagon\u2019s broader\u00a0Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Such real-time coordination is important because the technology and tactics involved have also grown much more complex since the previous Arcane Thunder in Poland. In 2023, the battalion deployed three \u201ctethered aerostats\u201d \u2014 basically, blimps moored to a fixed site on the ground, like 21st century versions of a\u00a0Civil War observation balloon<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 whose long-range, wide-area scans for suspect signals then cued follow-up flights by drones to narrow down the target coordinates.<\/p>\n This time, the battalion is using the aerostats again, Ritzema said, plus a small zoo of different drones, and even a pair of\u00a0Triton<\/a>\u00a0unmanned surface vessels on loan from the Navy\u2019s nine-month-old\u00a0Task Force 66.<\/a><\/p>\n Ritzema said the Morocco exercise will involve two types of drones optimized for long surveillance flights. The\u00a0Kraus Hamadi Aerospace<\/a>\u00a0K-1000 is a 40-pound mini-plane that can stay aloft for days on solar power [PDF<\/a>]. Complementing it is\u00a0the Shield AI\u00a0V-BAT<\/a>, which weighs more (125 lbs) and has a shorter flight time (about 10 hours) but has the There are also two products of the Army\u2019s\u00a0Launched Effects<\/a>\u00a0initiative that Ritzema called \u201cSpirit\u201d and \u201cDisruptor.\u201d Not many details about those systems are available, but a\u00a0test in March<\/a>\u00a0of the \u201cmedium range\u201d variant of Launched Effects used the ALTIUS 700, a roughly 65-lb drone with a two-hour fight time that can carry\u00a0sensors, jammers, or an explosive warhead<\/a>.<\/p>\n Those drones need to be able to fly a long time and a long way. For this exercise, the battalion headquarters is set up in Agadir, but drone launch-and-recovery teams are 30-plus miles away, and the simulated targets even farther. The battalion\u2019s doctrine calls for it to detect targets over 300 miles (500 kilometers) away. At a minimum, two balloons are airborne at any given time, providing a binocular \u201cpersistent stare\u201d that can triangulate the source of any transmission, but at peak there could be eight different assets in the air.<\/p>\n As troops experiment in the desert, however, the Army is still awaiting a few relevant tools like long-range, high-powered jammers. The service\u2019s long-awaited drone-borne jamming system,\u00a0Multi-Function Electronic Warfare<\/a>\u00a0(MFEW) Air won\u2019t\u00a0enter service until 2026<\/a>, with an initial fielding of just four pods. On the ground, where Russia currently deployed a varied arsenal of truck-borne high-powered jammers, the US Army has accelerated fielding of low-power backpack systems but the long-range\u00a0TLS-EAB<\/a>\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0enter service until mid-2026<\/a>. (Both MFEW-Air and TLS, short for Terrestrial Layer System, are\u00a0Lockheed Martin products<\/a>).<\/p>\n \u201cThe Army doesn\u2019t have a lot of programs of record aligned to the capabilities that we need for [our mission],\u201d Col. Ritzema acknowledged, without naming any specific systems. Much of the equipment the battalion is using is not from formal large-scale procurements but prototypes and experiments on offer from industry partners, funneled through the Army\u2019s\u00a0Combat Capabilities Development Command<\/a>. It\u2019s essential for the battalion, he said, to \u201csee, test, get our hands on equipment, and then go back to the Army\u201d with its recommendations.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re validating the network architecture, we\u2019re maturing our COP [Common Operating Picture] tools,\u201d he said. \u201c[We] provide feedback on how these different technologies and capabilities work and ultimately go back to the big Army to inform operational needs statements and programs of record.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\u00a0<\/del>advantage of taking off and landing vertically like a helicopter, without needing a runway or catapult launcher.<\/p>\n