Modern precision weapons depend on access to accurate positioning, navigation and timing (PNT). Department of War is now experimenting with an EW system intended to exploit that dependence while remaining deployable close to the fight. In July, the Army, Navy and Space Force conducted the first maritime trial of the system during Project Convergence Capstone 6 off Southern California.
Called Hammer of the Gods, the system is essentially a deployable EW emitter that transmits controlled RF energy to create effects in the electromagnetic spectrum potentially including disruption or manipulation of positioning, navigation and timing signals while keeping its own electromagnetic signature relatively low.
GPS and other satellite-navigation signals arrive at the receiver at extremely low power levels, making them inherently vulnerable to interference. A sufficiently capable electronic-attack system can deny, degrade or potentially manipulate those signals over an operational area, affecting navigation as well as the timing references used by communications networks, sensors and weapons.
That makes counter-PNT an increasingly important part of electronic warfare as precision-guided artillery, cruise missiles, unmanned aircraft and other networked weapons often rely on satellite-derived position or timing data in their operating chain. Disrupting that data can force platforms to fall back on inertial navigation or other alternatives that may accumulate error or provide less precise performance.
An emitter operating aboard or near naval platforms must function in an exceptionally crowded electromagnetic environment that can include high-power shipboard radars, communications systems, satellite links and electronic-support receivers. At the same time, minimizing the emitter’s own detectable signature is critical because any powerful RF transmission can potentially reveal its location to hostile electronic-support systems.
The experiment also evaluated resilient mesh networking intended to extend the system’s operational reach. Hammer of the Gods represents more than another EW transmitter because it shows how spectrum control, PNT denial, low-probability-of-detection operation and resilient networking are converging into a single EW architecture.