Electronic Warfare Support Measures (ESM)

ESM is that division of EW involving actions taken to search, intercept and identify EM emissions and to locate their sources for the purpose of immediate threat recognition. It provides a source of information required for immediate decisions involving ECM, EPM and other tactical actions.

ESM directly supports the operational commander and its actions include the configuration and operational tasking of ESM resources, establishing the processes by which associated EM data is transmitted to the using commander, and using the received data for tactical decision making.

ESM resources can provide critical information on adversary intentions by exploiting EM emissions throughout the frequency spectrum. ESM contributes to the following activities:

· Intelligence collection

· Alerting and direction for ECM operations and targeting of indirect fire

· Deception planning

· Detection of threat changes

· Threat warning

· Suppression of Enemy Air Defences

· Situational Awareness