To meet the challenges of today’s complex and dynamic operational environment, the U.S. Army is endeavoring to improve its ability operate in the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) in support of multi-domain operations. As a keystone in that effort, the Army Cyber Command (ARYCBER)-led Radio Frequency (RF) Data Pilot is focusing on operational experimentation to identify and demonstrate the concept of payload-centric capabilities, rapid RF-enabled effects generation, and the supporting data architecture required to operate securely in the EMS.

The pilot is a collaborative initiative that brings together vital partners and stakeholders, including ARCYBER, the Army Cyber Center of Excellence (CCoE), the Army Program Executive Office – Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors (PEO IEWS), the Army Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Center, the Army Intelligence Center of Excellence (USAICoE), Army Futures Command (AFC), and others. The experiment supports the Army’s electronic warfare (EW) transformation in contact efforts by accelerating requirements and providing operational evaluation of solutions across the EW enterprise.

The pilot is shaping Army force modernization requirements to maximize lethality. ARCYBER officials said understanding what data is needed by each customer that consumes it, and then standardizing that data into a common schema and creating the ability to take RF Enable Techniques and modularize them in Modular Mission Payloads (MMPs) that can be employed across multiple different platforms with little to no integration efforts by operators in the field, is key to that effort.

The RF pilot supports several Department of Defense (DoD) and Army strategic initiatives, such as the DoD Fulcrum Information Technology Advancement Strategy (EMS Information Technology Modernization); Army Capability Manager (ACM)-EW and PEO IEWS EW enterprise modernization goals; the ARCYBER Campaign Plan; and Army Intelligence enterprise modernization plans.

Its objectives are centered on three overarching areas: data architecture and standards, policy, and force modernization. Data architecture and standards efforts focus on maneuver and fires in the EMS to support cross-domain operations; tailoring and automating the triage of RF signals; rapid RF effects generation; MMPs; and an EMS big data platform. Policy initiatives include identifying gaps in policy to enable operations in the EMS and sharing with joint and coalition partners; informing an EMS Security Classification Guide; and recommending changes to enable rapid effects generation. Force modernization efforts seek to inform future EW modernization and EW capabilities-based assessments; refine concepts for MMPs, as well as the Rapid Reprogramming Enterprise, C5ISR, Army Reprogramming Analysis Team, and other Army organizations.

“The outcomes of the RF Data Pilot will benefit not only how we operate, defend, attack, influence and inform today, but also force modernization and continuous transformation for the future,” said Penny L. Skinner, ARCYBER Technical Warfare Center (TWC) Program Analyst.

In September 2024 the pilot exercised capabilities at an event known as Vanguard 24, an ambitious effort by the Army to push the boundaries of intelligence and EW capabilities. Led by the USAICoE and the AFC Intelligence Battle Lab, the exercise tested an array of advanced technology, including high-altitude electromagnetic warfare systems, threat simulators, and robotics. Sensors and equipment shared EMS reconnaissance data in near-real-time to a Team Awareness Kit common operating picture that informed command and control and maneuver warfighting functions. ARCYBER officials said integration at Vanguard 24 and refinement at future exercises will allow Army ground component reconnaissance forces to significantly scale DoD’s ability to sense, understand, and act upon enemy, friendly and civilian personnel and equipment using the EMS in an area of operations.

ARCYBER officials said the final deliverables and objectives of the pilot initiative are focused on data architecture and standards, MMPs (payload-centric rather than platform-centric), and demonstrating or identifying policy challenges; informing the EMS Security Classification Guide, future modernization efforts and EW capabilities-based assessments; integration into multi-domain operations, and the viability of the EMS data platform.

“Dominating the electromagnetic spectrum is key to multi-domain operations and the RF Data Pilot is unlocking that potential, enabling the U.S. Army to operate faster, smarter, and more lethally in the electromagnetic spectrum,” said Steven D. Rehn, ARCYBER Chief Technology Officer, Chief Data Officer, and TWC Director.

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ABOUT U.S. ARMY CYBER COMMAND: U.S. Army Cyber Command integrates and conducts cyberspace operations, electromagnetic warfare, and information operations, ensuring decision dominance and freedom of action for friendly forces in and through the cyber domain and the information dimension, while denying the same to our adversaries.

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