What is Electromagnetic Warfare and Why Every Platform is at Risk

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30 June 2026

Article Summary

Electromagnetic Warfare encompasses any military action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum to attack an adversary, intercept intelligence, or protect friendly assets.
However, for modern defense platforms and autonomous systems, the most critical and rapidly escalating subset of Electromagnetic Warfare is Navigation Warfare or NAVWAR. In this domain, adversaries use strategic electronic attacks to make platforms question their own positioning and targeting data.
By actively jamming, spoofing, or manipulating the fabric of Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) signals (particularly GNSS) adversaries can blind a fleet.
The effects of these targeted electronic attacks range from mission degradation and reduced accuracy to the complete loss of navigation capability.

Traditional operations are built on a fundamental trust in signals, particularly GNSS.

Today, however, that trust in navigational accuracy is actively contested.

It is important to recognize that across air, land and sea, even platforms fortified with dedicated defense mechanisms, are at risk of being compromised.

The shifting landscape of spectrum dominance demands that we abandon reliance on single points of failure when it comes to navigating through contested environments.

The optimal solution is a diverse, federated system designed to simultaneously detect and circumvent these sophisticated attacks.

Don’t Let Jamming Blind Your Fleet

Achieve Assured PNT with Electronic Protection that outpaces the threat. Download our report to see how our Electronic Protection can de-risk your next defense program.

Download the report

The State of Electromagnetic Warfare

Electromagnetic Warfare involves the manipulation of the physical electromagnetic spectrum, spanning radio waves, microwaves, and infrared, to disrupt an adversary or protect friendly operations. It does not exist in a vacuum; modern electronic attacks heavily converge with Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) to disrupt highly connected networks.

While it was once a highly classified craft that was confined and specialized , over the last decade, it has evolved into an inescapable threat in global operations.

According to a 2025 report by the RAND Corporation, electronic attacks targeting positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) systems have escalated to become a defining factor in modern conflicts. Furthermore, U.S. Space Command and NATO have formally confirmed that persistent GNSS jamming and intentional spectrum interference are now routine across active operational theaters and Allied regions.

The barrier to entry for conducting electronic attacks has plummeted. Equipment that once required large infrastructures now easily fits in a backpack. This shift has been driven by the rapid democratization of technology:

Software-defined radios and low-cost antennas have made hardware cheap and easily accessible.
Open-source frameworks have accelerated experimentation and exploitation by non-state actors and individuals.
Threats are miniaturizing, meaning agile waveforms and automated attack loops are becoming the new normal.

The objective of an electronic attack is simple: manufacture doubt.

An adversary doesn’t necessarily need to completely blind a force to break it; they just need to create enough confusion to make the operational picture suspect.

If a hostile actor can make a drone, marine vessel, fire control system, or autonomy stack question its own position (even briefly) they have successfully stolen your mission tempo and initiative. Moreover, legacy military receivers are being outpaced by the rapid evolution and democratization of modern electronic attack methodologies.

The Countermeasure to Electromagnetic Warfare

Knowing your position, navigation, and timing under deliberate electronic attack is now an operational imperative. The protection toolset converts denial and deception into manageable risk so missions can continue with confidence. A sophisticated Electronic Protection system works by:

Treating jamming as background noise to be managed.
Treating spoofing as a lie to be detected, rejected, and reported automatically in real-time.
Continually updating to match evolving threats.
Accounting for Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) constraints, ensuring it can be integrated into everything from UAVs to USVs without hindering performance.
Rapid deployment through reliable delivery schedules so organizations receive a highly capable solution without being stalled by traditional procurement delays.

To achieve true Electronic Protection, a platform’s navigation stack must be built on an internal truth engine, where inertial navigation should act as the platform’s nervous system for various other sensors that act as layered technologies of redundancy to protect the platform. Depending on the operational environment, this federated approach takes different forms:

Aerial Operations (UAVs & Drones): The navigation architecture fuses high-precision inertial hardware with anti-jamming and anti-spoofing capabilities. When external signals are degraded, the drone can lean on this sensor fusion, often supplemented by visual odometry or optical sensors, to maintain its flight path and mission tempo.
Maritime Environments (Marine Vessels & USVs): In environments where GNSS is denied or manipulated, surface and subsea platforms rely heavily on an INS paired with velocity aiding. By integrating external inputs such as a Doppler Velocity Log (DVL), the vessel maintains an accurate operational picture and heading without trusting spoofed signals.
Land Operations (Ground Vehicles): To prevent an adversary from making an autonomy stack question its own position, ground platforms combine the internal truth of the INS with wheel-speed sensors, LiDAR, or Laser Velocity Sensors. This multi-sensor architecture replaces vulnerable GNSS reliance, ensuring continuous targeting data across contested land domains.

Secure Your Systems Against the Evolving Threat

The question is no longer if GNSS will be denied, but when. Platforms that cannot trust themselves or scale with the evolving threat will be obsolete, but those that can will dominate.

To secure spectrum dominance, technology teams must accelerate their investment in Electronic Protection today. Advanced Navigation supports this imperative by helping organizations replace vulnerable GPS reliance with a layered, multi-sensor architecture. By fusing high-precision inertial hardware with intelligent onboard systems, defense platforms gain the ability to navigate with high accuracy, ensuring mission continuity even when external signals are degraded or lost entirely.

Download Advanced Navigation’s comprehensive report, Zig When They Zag: Achieve Assured PNT with Electronic Protection That Outpaces the Threat, to discover how to fuse high-precision hardware with onboard intelligence and shield your defense platforms.

FAQs

What makes a drone resistant to Electromagnetic Warfare?

A drone becomes resistant to electronic warfare with a layered level of navigational resilience, including anti-jamming/anti-spoofing capabilities, an INS with inertial sensors and sensor fusion, velocity aiding, and continuous development of firmware to match developments in Electromagnetic Warfare. This enables the platform to be more resilient against such threats due to the multiple levels of redundancies available.

What are the three divisions of Electromagnetic Warfare?

Modern electromagnetic operations are divided into three primary pillars: Electronic Support, Electronic Attack, and Electronic Protection. Electronic Support involves sensing and identifying spectrum threats, Electronic Attack focuses on disrupting or disabling enemy signals, and Electronic Protection defends your own systems from being jammed or deceived.

How can I protect my systems from Electromagnetic Warfare?

Advanced Navigation protects vehicles from Electromagnetic Warfare by replacing vulnerable GPS reliance with a layered, multi-sensor architecture, fusing high-precision inertial hardware with onboard systems that can sense, adapt, and navigate, even when external signals are degraded or lost.