RPVs, data links, and the jamming threat

John W. Ellis

Expert InsightsPublished 1977

Recent technological innovations--standoff munitions, homing weapons, remotely piloted vehicles--promise to alleviate the situation of increased Soviet surface-to-air defenses, but the data links needed by many of these new devices present a new, and potentially attractive vulnerability that the enemy defense may be able to exploit. Analysis of that potential vulnerability requires a contextual systems approach rather than the traditional one-on-one. This means including system life-cycle costs, examining alternatives open to both sides other than simply entering into an electronic countermeasures/counter-countermeasures game, and assessing the utility of those alternatives in terms of total combat system payoff criterion. An approach is discussed to identify circumstances favoring enemy use of jammers and resultant data link jam-resistance performance requirements and allowable costs.

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Document Details

  • Copyright: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Web Only
  • Year: 1977
  • Pages: 34
  • Document Number: P-5865

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Chicago Manual of Style

Ellis, John W., RPVs, data links, and the jamming threat. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1977. https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P5865.html.
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