Electronic warfare (EW) spending up, but can’t make up for years of neglect

Electronic warfare (EW) has come a long way since Pentagon legend Paul Kaminski warned that “years of neglect” had left the U.S. dangerously behind Russia and China. But has the Defense Department made the $2.3 billion a year increases in EW spending that Kaminski and the respected Defense Science Board said was necessary? No — not yet. “We have not achieved $2.3 billion in budget growth,” says Pentagon EW acquisitions director Bill Conley. How much is the Defense Department spending on EW? Research spending totals about $5 billion a year, Conley says, but the best technology is useless if it doesn’t get bought and fielded. When it comes to EW procurement, however, so much money is classified, and so much is in flux, that Conley can’t give a public number for how much the Defense Department is actually spending.