Taking big strides in electronic intelligence, the Chinese AI-based EW system has reportedly been able to find the radar signals emanating from military radars deployed by the US in the South China Sea, Guam, the Marshall Islands, and the Aleutian Islands near Alaska.
Electronic Warfare has been China’s Achilles Heel, but it is fast closing the capability gap and transforming the balance of power in the South China Sea. China may have improved its EW capabilities quickly by investing in new technologies and placing them in a more extensive kill web consisting of kinetic and non-kinetic elements.
The South China Morning Post claimed that scientists involved in the investigation say the characteristics of these electromagnetic signals suggest the existence of “tactical coordination” among military radars deployed in these areas across the Pacific Ocean.
China and the US have been engaged in electronic confrontation “every day” around the globe. In May 2024, a research team led by Zhou Changlin of the Strategic Support Forces Information Engineering University published their findings in a peer-reviewed paper in the Journal of Terahertz Science and Electronic Information Technology, highlighting the coordination between the US military radars.
Military radars generate copious signal data that is large in volume and high in complexity. Traditional analysis methods have not been able to keep up with the growth in data, prompting the Chinese military intelligence to deploy AI to mine the data.
China’s new class of EW equipment can rapidly detect, decode, and suppress enemy signals. China’s rebranding of the PLA Strategic Support Force (PLA-SSF) into the PLA-Information Support Force (PLA-ISF) highlights China’s strategic shift towards technology-driven “intelligentized warfare.” Electronic Warfare is also a key component of China’s Multi-Domain Precision Warfare (MDPW) concept, which leverages AI and big data to identify and exploit weaknesses in US operational systems.
In the latest EW intelligence gathered by the AI-based EW system, Chinese Scientists say the characteristics of these electromagnetic signals suggest that the US military radars deployed in areas across the Pacific Ocean were working in tandem.
The South China Morning Post said that this is the first time the People’s Liberation Army has publicly shown its ability to gather electronic warfare intelligence around the globe “based on specific targets and actual reconnaissance data,” according to the researchers.
The operational range of China’s naval and air forces has seen an upward tick, and it has expanded from the South China Sea to Alaska and the US territory of Guam – a key spot on the “second island chain” under Washington’s strategy to contain China.
China’s cutting-edge EW capabilities are tilting the balance of power in the South China Sea. In July, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on China’s enhanced EW capabilities by shedding light on a December 2023 incident between a US EA-18 Growler carrier-based EW aircraft and China’s Type 055 cruiser Nanchang in the contested South China Sea.
The US has also been working towards gaining an upper hand in electronic warfare. In October 2023, Washington managed to keep Beijing out of the Western Pacific region by securing a deal with the Marshal Islands in Oceania. The months of negotiations led to the renewal of a strategic pact granting the US military access to its land, air, and sea in exchange for two decades of economic help.
The Marshall Islands, in the central Pacific, are home to the US military’s most powerful space surveillance radar.
China’s Burgeoning EW Capabilities
EW data analysis is handicapped by hardware limits. The real-time analysis bandwidth of traditional spectrum monitoring systems is generally restricted to a range of 40-160 MHz. Signals outside this range are monitored through sampling, but there is a chance of missing something important.
The Chinese scientists have extended the frequency range for real-time monitoring into the high-frequency zone, which covers the frequency range used by amateur radio enthusiasts and even Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites.
In other words, if the US military decides to switch to civilian frequencies, the Chinese military can monitor it. This will impact the wireless communications between US military units.
To attain this broader capability, Chinese scientists have developed new signal-processing chips. The previous chips could not handle large amounts of data, and the data also needed simultaneous analysis to glean high-value information.
To expedite the process, the Chinese scientists introduced artificial intelligence (AI) into the most critical data analysis process. The integration of in-house chips and AI has enabled the Chinese military to achieve unprecedented information perception capabilities at a lower cost. Even in the face of enemy jamming, they can still find the enemy’s weaknesses from strong background noise and effectively counter them.
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Project lead scientist Yang Kai, a professor from the School of Information and Electronics at the Beijing Institute of Technology, and his team published a peer-reviewed paper in the Chinese academic journal Radio Communications Technology on January 17, enumerating the technology that can change the way wars will be fought in the South China Sea.
According to the researchers, the Chinese military will be able to use this technology to detect and lock on enemy signals at unprecedented speeds, decode the physical parameters of these signals almost instantly, and effectively suppress them—all while ensuring the smooth flow of their communications.
In the paper, Yang wrote that the new breed of electromagnetic spectrum monitoring gear is “small in size, high in performance, and low in power consumption.”
- Ritu Sharma has been a journalist for over a decade, writing on defense, foreign affairs, and nuclear technology.
- The author can be reached at ritu.sharma (at) mail.com
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