China’s advanced electronic warfare (EW) capabilities are shifting the balance of power in the South China Sea, as recent clashes between the U.S. and Chinese militaries have demonstrated.
This month, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on China’s enhanced electronic warfare capabilities, highlighting an incident in December 2023 between a U.S. EA-18 Growler carrier-based electronic warfare aircraft and China’s Type 055 cruiser, the Nanchang, in the disputed South China Sea.
According to SCMP, the U.S. Navy fired Adm. William Coulter, commander of U.S. Electronic Attack Squadron 136 (VAQ-136), based on the USS Carl Vinson, in December 2023, citing a loss of confidence in his ability to command.
A month later, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) confirmed the Nanchang’s crew’s actions against the U.S. carrier fleet, according to the report, which also noted that Chinese media had documented an encounter between the Nanchang cruiser and an EA-18G believed to be from Coulter’s squadron.
The report noted that PLA scientists recently found in Radar & ECM magazine that the AI-enhanced radar gave the Nanchang an edge over the jamming capabilities of the EA-18G.
The Boeing-built EA-18G has been upgraded since 2021 to prepare for future warfare, but it faces new challenges from the People’s Liberation Army-Navy’s (PLA-N) integrated radar system and communications strategy, the report argues.
SCMP noted that these advances could enable PLA Navy ships to form a “kill web” to counter EA-18G attacks, and noted that the Nanchang’s reported aggressive tactics and successful engagement with U.S. forces signal a change in the PLA Navy’s electronic warfare approach.
China’s electronic warfare capabilities have improved significantly since then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s controversial visit to Taiwan in August 2022, which may have made the feat possible.
The South China Morning Post reported that despite the People’s Liberation Army fielding Type 055 cruisers and J-16D electronic warfare aircraft, it was unable to track and monitor the U.S. Air Force transport plane carrying Pelosi during her visit. Sources said nearly all of the PLA’s electronic warfare equipment was rendered inoperable by electronic interference from Pelosi’s escort aircraft.
Regarding Pelosi’s air escort, John Tkasik wrote in an August 2022 Taipei Times article that the escort may have been a large force of US F-15 fighter jets flying out of Kadena Air Base in Japan, supported by the USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike group and the USS Tripoli, which carries F-35 fighter jets stationed in the Philippine Sea.
That experience may have prompted China to rapidly improve its electronic warfare capabilities by investing in new technologies and deploying them in a broader kill web of kinetic and non-kinetic energy elements.
SCMP reported in February 2024 that Chinese scientists had invented a new class of electronic warfare equipment that is said to be able to rapidly detect, decode and suppress enemy signals.
According to the SCMP, the new system will enable the PLA to seamlessly monitor gigahertz signals, including frequencies used by amateur radio and Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites.
The equipment includes innovative signal processing chips and AI integration, improving China’s ability to counter enemy jamming and keep communications flowing, the report said.
Additionally, South Carolina’s Mornington News Agency claims that during encounters with U.S. Navy vessels conducting electronic warfare activities, China used electromagnetic radiation devices, including high-powered phased array radars, to lock on to multiple targets, including U.S. aircraft based on aircraft carriers.
Apart from developing new technologies, China may already be elevating electronic warfare to a strategic capability and integrating it into multi-domain operations along with other kinetic and non-kinetic energy capabilities in a complex kill web.
In a May 2023 Mitchell Institute article, Heather Penny describes a kill web as multiple interconnected nodes that provide redundant paths for conducting military operations, increasing the volume and resilience of potential kill chains. A kill chain is the process required to identify and eliminate a specific target.
Penney said that unlike a linear kill chain, which is easier to target and disrupt, the kill web is a more adaptive and less predictable system, making it harder for adversaries to defeat.
The renaming of the People’s Liberation Army Strategic Support Force (PLA-SSF) to the People’s Liberation Army Information Support Force (PLA-ISF) in April 2024 highlights China’s strategic shift toward technology-driven “intelligent warfare,” Asia Times reported.
The PLA-ISF aims to integrate AI, quantum and other emerging technologies into China’s multi-domain operations strategy against potential adversaries, including the United States and its allies. The name change reflects an evolution in Chinese military thinking, moving from “informationized warfare” to “intelligentized warfare,” which includes electronic warfare, cyber operations and signals intelligence (SIGINT).
EW is also a key element of China’s Multi-Domain Precision Warfare (MDPW) concept, which leverages AI and big data to identify and exploit weaknesses in U.S. operational systems.
China’s MDPW aims to dismantle and disrupt the U.S. kill chain by targeting critical intelligence locations such as aircraft and satellites with physical attacks, and by targeting information networks using electronic warfare and cyber attacks.
The United States still holds the advantage in electronic warfare, but near-peer adversaries such as China and Russia may be closing the gap.
According to a November 2022 Congressional Research Service (CRS) defense primer, the National Defense Strategy Committee noted that the U.S. is losing its electronic warfare advantage, hindering its ability to operate against capable adversaries.
The Army Technical Research Laboratory reported in May that the United States will spend $5 billion on electronic warfare capabilities in 2024, accounting for 45% of global EW spending from 2021 to 2023, compared with just 14% for Russia and 13% for China.
But Army Technology said the U.S.’s dominant position in the electronic warfare market is threatened as Russia, China and India are expected to gain market share over the next decade.
The report noted that over the past two decades, Russia has exploited U.S. inaction in its electronic warfare strategy to focus on counterinsurgency against non-state actors.
The report noted that in Ukraine, Russia has used electronic warfare to disrupt enemy battlefield networks, support conventional strike forces through signals intelligence and jamming attacks, and protect occupied territory from retaliation.
The sources also say Russia is using electronic warfare to disrupt civilian services in the region, such as GPS and communications.
Similarly, Army Technology noted that China is mimicking Russia’s use of electronic warfare and equating information superiority with electromagnetic superiority. In addition to ship-based electronic warfare equipment, China is installing similar equipment and other capabilities in occupied territories in the South China Sea, the report said.
In line with this, Matthew Funaiole and other authors, in a December 2021 CSIS article, highlighted China’s expansion of facilities on Hainan Island, Subi Reef, and Fiery Cross Reef, which now include satellite tracking, communications platforms, and systems that may be used for electronic warfare and SIGINT.
These developments are aimed at strengthening the PLA’s ability to operate in contested electronic and cyber environments, Funaiole and his colleagues said.
