ELT: First Workshop on "Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations" in collaboration with SMD Information and Security Department

(To Matteo Acciaccarelli)
19/06/17

The 15 June 2017, at the headquarters of Elettronica Spa in Rome, took place the first meeting on Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (Operations with the electromagnetic spectrum) strongly desired by the Department of Information and Security of the General Staff of Defense. There were many guests who came, both from the Armed Forces and from the private company, the first of these was the moderator of the conference, namely the captain of vessel Gianfranco Vizzini, which was followed first by the air brigade general, deputy head Department for Informative Politics and Satellite Remote Sensing, Giuseppe Sgamba then, for Elettronica Spa, the vice president, Eugenio Santagata, and the president, Enzo Benigni, took part.

"We have achieved the goal! There can be no efficiency without the close collaboration between the Armed Forces and Industry", So he opened his speech the gen. Ba Sgamba, focusing, from the outset, on the intrinsic importance of this relationship, which makes it possible to improve operational efficiency and industrial efficiency. Precisely because this synergy will allow the Armed Forces to have an ever-increasing knowledge of the tools used in the Electronic War, essential for the challenges facing the future of Italy. Starting from the fight against terrorism, the focal point of Italian internal security, which thanks to the EW technologies (from this point forward for Guerra Elettronica will be used the English acronym ndr) can be made easier, but not only. Because Italy, according to Sgamba, must: "Aim to obtain the superiority of the electromagnetic spectrum", Essential for ensuring communication and listening to them without any kind of interference. Even in the operational theater the management of the electromagnetic spectrum is fundamental, because, referring to the IED (Improvised Explosive Device - Improvised explosive device) Sgamba went on to say that: "It will be possible to insert in the loop that from the infrared remote control one arrives at the explosion of the device", Thus being able to save precious lives. But in addition to close relations with the industry, the Armed Forces have to deal with the increasingly unstable international scenario and with the limits to public spending, in fact on the second point in question Sgamba has set guidelines to save money, or: "The inter-force work, a teamwork between the military and industry, the use of prototypes in the theater and a common database of all the Armed Forces will allow Italy to save, but managing to increase its operations".

Even the interventions of the vice president and president of Elettronica Spa have touched on the importance of the relationship, which must be implemented, between industry and the Armed Forces, just on this Santagata added: "The industry-Armed Forces coordination must be there, because having a unique strategy leads to making better and above all winning choices". The fundamental choices for a private company that must be primarily virtuous, in order to avoid having to close for a series of wrong choices. This virtuosity can be found in the words of President Benigno, who explained how important it is to remain: "a niche of specialization", So as to be always competitive, also by virtue of a possible future industrial aggregation at European level.

After the first three interventions, the meeting has moved on purely technical topics starting with that of the frigate captain Maurizio Micheli, the newborn Interforze Command for Cybernetic Operations (CIOC). Commander Micheli explained the importance of cyber capabilities for national security, starting from the lowest level, namely: threat analysis. This point is in some ways the most complicated to define, because the threat that comes from the use of modern information technology increases the vulnerability of the same. But not only, because the attacks are always anonymous, making it impossible to understand who and what lies behind a cyber attack, to understand Micheli also gave a significant number: "In 2016 500 monthly cyber attacks were registered". Introducing a cyber defense has now become essential to keep the information technology and equipment of the Armed Forces safe. Precisely for this reason the CIOC has recently been set up, which is still to be implemented in order to achieve full operation, which is planned for the 2019.

Following the word passed to Lieutenant Colonel Marco Pallone del VI Department - C4I Systems and Transformations, of the General Staff of Defense. His speech focused on the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS), its rapid technological development and its increasingly greater dependence on the Armed Forces. The EMS has not yet been studied tout court and the human factor in this is very important, as it is, in fact, for the ten. with the. Ball the instruction of the soldiers of each Armed Force, in order to: "Get to know ourselves, so you can win battles". The study of the EMS must be increased, also to be able to define, in the near future, a strategic plan that will support the one already done by NATO. Getting to manage the electromagnetic spectrum will allow the Armed Forces to work in a coordinated manner and to make the most of the "friendly" frequencies, but without "awareness and knowledge"It will be impossible to have superiority in the management of the EMS. "We learn about the electromagnetic spectrum - concluded Pallone - before he is to make himself known", A sentence that knows about the sentence and that wants to make clear how important it is for the internal security and the safety of our Armed Forces to study in depth what could be considered, tomorrow, the sixth domain. The confirmation of what was said by Pallone came from the frigate captain Gera Barbara, the JEWCS (NATO Joint Electronic Warfare Core Staff) who spoke about how much NATO is doing to implement and to develop, definitively, a strategy for the EW. The development is fundamental for the Atlantic Alliance also for information technology, according to the tool that Barbara has briefly explained: a program that will allow:check every detail in real time with a click". All of this thanks to the combination of factors that make the EW a complex and at the same time constantly evolving world. Evolution that without the industry would be impossible, in fact at the end of the conference Eng. Daniela Pistoia, Chief Scientist of Elettronica Spa, who talked about how the military industry had to change together with the transformation of the concept of war. His intervention is orbit around the combination of the various branches of the EW, in order to be able to enter an enemy network, all this thanks to the reverse engineering and the use, wise, of the Cyber ​​Operations.

A future, this of the Electronic War, which is progressing more and more booming, thanks to the three technologies presented at the end of the conference by the engineers of Elettronica Spa. The first was the ADRIAN system (Anti DRone Interception and Neutralization), which will allow be able to defend public places or barracks from possible terrorist attacks through the use of drones. This is because the system developed by Elettronica after having hooked up the drone by radar or studying its radio frequencies and is able to insert itself, through the Jamming, in order to neutralize it or hooks up to its GPS, in the case where it is automatically piloted , and by changing its coordinates makes it unusable.

The second of these novelties is the ELEPHANT system, a real war room that simulates an EW operation in order to train, in conditions of tranquility, the future soldiers in charge of electronic warfare, whether they are pilots of an airplane or helicopter or they are analysts of SIGINT (Espionage of electromagnetic signals).

The last, but not least, of the novelties presented by Elettronica Spa was, instead, D-SINT, a huge database of information, at the moment still only Open Source (that can be found on the Internet ndr), which can be implemented by inserting internal reports of on-site informants and all other data acquired through electronic warfare are also in place. The importance of this database is given by the fact that being based on algorithms, it will not be necessary for the man to look for the information required, leaving everything in the hands, fast, of the computer. A step forward that will reduce the time required to search for information and analyze it.

(photo: US Army Cyber ​​Command / Electronics)