The AOC’s 23rd European event in Lausanne, Switzerland, will consider the future of EW and EM Operations in the changing light of current and emerging threats, including Hybrid Warfare, Information Operations, the multi-domain battle (MDB), Cyber and Anti Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) where some potential opponents are excelling. It will consider the possible responses, how thinking and attitudes must change, and examine the new capabilities that will be required across all lines of development, by all services, in all countries in the free world.

The Conference will consist of plenary sessions focusing on operations, defence capability development, and industry inventiveness. AOC EW Lausanne 2018 will bring together the EW, SIGINT, C4ISR, Cyber EM Activities (CEMA) communities and more. Speakers will include leaders and operators from the military, government, and academia, S&T and international R&D communities and, crucially industry.  

MEET THE SPEAKERS: Learn more about the event with speakers' online interviews!

REGISTER HERE!

AOC 2018 Award Nominations are now open. There are two categories of awards. Competitive Awards: Recognize individuals and units for their outstanding performance in furthering the aims of the Association of Old Crows in support of the United States or Allied Electronic Warfare (EW), Information Operations (IO), Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (EMSO). Every year, the AOC presents these prestigious awards to each recipient at the Annual AOC International Symposium and Convention: Nomination Deadline: May 1. Non-Competitive Awards: Provide the means for our Chapters and the AOC Board of Directors to recognize individual achievements and contributions any time of the year. These awards will NOT be presented at the Annual AOC International Symposium and Convention.

EW warfighting requirements continue to evolve in their complexity and capability to meet Air, Ground, Surface, Space, and Cyberspace requirements. The 10th Annual Electronic Warfare Capability Gaps and Enabling Technologies Conference will provide a forum for EW professionals from the military, government, industry and academic fields, to discuss issues related to the requirements of EW programs, platforms, and operations. This capstone event will focus on the identified gaps and technologies the services required to ensure EW maintains freedom of maneuver through the Electromagnetic Spectrum (EMS) in support of achieving commanders’ objectives.

This year's event includes a robust program. View the Draft Agenda HERE.

KEYNOTE AND HIGH RANKING SPEAKERS

Mr. William Flynn, SES, Director for Integrated Fires, Innovation and Space OPNAV N2N6F3/FX
Capt. Robert Gamberg, Future Concepts and Experimentation USFFC
Mr. Bryan Clark, CSBA, Senior Fellow, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments
Dr. Melissa Midzor, Director, Electronic Warfare Integrated Laboratories Division (Q45) NAWCWD
Dr. Megan Fillinich, Chief Technology Officer, NSWC
Mr. Patrick Molenda, Director, Warfighting Assessment and Readiness (N9 WAR)

All sessions on May 8 and 9 will be classified SECRET/NOFORN. The May 10 session is TS/SCI.

Devices used to produce the historical high-powered radar pulse are now being replaced with solid-state technology, which makes identify radars and collecting and analyzing data more challenging than ever. The Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) and Electronic Warfare (EW) communities are facing increasingly difficult obstacles since focus shifted from the radar barren operational theatres of Iraq and Afghanistan. Recent symmetrical threat environments such as Libya and Syria have been significantly more heavily laden with radar controlled weapon systems. 

As a result, there has been a flurry of effort to develop more advanced signal processing techniques that more effectively and efficiently exploit modern digital radar signals. Technology advances in computer processing, Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) techniques, spectral presentation and data storage has made it possible to evaluate the Electromagnetic Spectrum (EMS) like never before. The question is are we catching up fast enough or are we losing the fight?

Cyberspace and Electronic Warfare technical capabilities are becoming more technically similar. However, the communities which practice these disciplines remain largely separated and vary widely across the military Services in terms of their equipment, unit organization and operating methodologies. This conference provides the EW and Cyberspace communities an opportunity to collaborate and discuss capabilities, TTPs and research in EW and Cyberspace operations to enable more rapid deployment of new and improved capabilities. The Cyber/EW Convergence Conference identifies ways to develop advanced technologies and systems to address the changing battlefield dynamics of the digital age and bring EW and Cyberspace together for the Warfighter!

EVENT PREVIEW: View the latest Draft Agenda now!

Keynote and High Ranking Speakers:

Lt. Gen (Ret) David Deptula, Former Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C
MG (Ret) Michael Regner, USMC
Col (Ret) Chris Glaze, USAF, DARPA
Captain Brian Luke, USN, Navy Cyber Warfare Development Group
Mr. Gregg Kendricks, SES, Executive Director, MARFORCYBER

Sponsorship opportunities still available! Find out more here!

This conference is CLASSIFIED: TOP SECRET//SI/TK//NOFORN. All attendees must be registered and have an active TS//SCI clearance.

Requirements are a fundamental part of systems engineering, but are often poorly understood, particularly in the context of Electronic Warfare systems. The goal of this presentation is to provide the audience an understanding of requirements engineering as it applies to EW programs. This will include a discussion of how EW systems are measured, how those metrics can be translated into system requirements, and qualities of a good requirement. The presentation concludes with a discussion of requirements from EW projects, their impact on system design, and how they can be improved.

The Annual AOC International Symposium and Convention is the leading event for electronic warfare, electromagnetic spectrum operations, cyber-electromagnetic activities, and information operations experts from around the world. This event brings together nearly 2,000 professionals from 25 countries spanning industry, military, and government sectors to gather for educational sessions, networking, and of course, exposure to a show floor brimming with cutting edge technologies and services.

Learn about Exhibition & Sponsorship opportunities here. 

The Association of Old Crows is pleased to announce its new Career Center - the premier resource to connect career opportunities with highly qualified EW, EMSO, CEMA, SIGINT, ELINT, & IO talent. You can access the AOC Career Center at https://careers.crows.org.

Manage Your Career:
- Search and apply to the best Electromagnetic Warfare jobs at organizations that value your credentials
- Upload your anonymous resume so employers can contact you, but you maintain control of your information and choose to whom you release your information
- Receive an alert every time a job becomes available that matches your personal profile, skills, interests, and preferred location(s)
- Access career resources and job searching tips and tools
- Browse 100+ jobs already posted at https://careers.crows.org

Recruit for Open Positions:
- Post your jobs, or your organization’s jobs, where the most qualified industry professionals will find and apply to them
- Promote your jobs directly to AOC job seekers via our exclusive Job Flash email - sent on the 1st & 3rd Wednesday of each month
- Search the resume database and contact qualified candidates proactively

From now until June 30, we are offering a special to all employers & recruiters. For your first job posting, enter the code CrowsCareersLaunch18 and receive 50% off the normal job posting price!

We hope this new career center will make a significant difference for our members as they navigate their career paths. Thank you for your ongoing support!

To date, the AOC Virtual Series has steered clear of mathematics, but that is about to change! This webinar will tackle the radar and jammer range equations head on to unpack the many layers of information buried in these important results.

By the end of this presentation, attendees will have gained a clearer understanding of how the parameters of radar and EW systems interact to determine system performance - the fundamental objective of the radar and jammer range equations. Factors including antenna gain, radar cross section (RCS), effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP), coherent processing time, range (yes, really!), and others will be explored to understand what they actually mean in real systems.

We are pleased to announce the Association of Old Crows has launched a new website that is fully integrated with our membership database.

At the new crows.org, you can gain access members-only resources, the latest industry news, chapter groups, special interest groups, register for AOC events, and communicate with fellow members through our new community platform.  

Since this is a brand new platform, you will need to login to the new system by following these simple steps:

1.    Click here to reset your password
2.    Click here to login
3.    Enter your EMAIL ADDRESS – NOT your old username
4.    Enter your new password created above

If you have any questions or comments regarding the new site/platform, feel free to contact us.

There will be many improvements and features being added in the coming weeks and months, so please check back regularly. Thank you for being a part of the AOC community!

The Modern Threats: Surface-to-Air Missile Systems Conference will provide the latest findings from ongoing, allsource analysis of high interest threat air defense systems to include threat system capabilities and vulnerabilities, status of new development programs, and current and projected proliferation. Attendance at this conference is appropriate for those involved in the design, development, testing, evaluation and employment of electronic warfare systems, techniques and tactics for protection of U.S. and allied aircraft.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Deadline is June 29th!  Refer to crows.org for topic details and submission guidelines.

The inaugural 2018 EMSO Challenge is a unique two-day event that will include hands on, team-based EMSO Decathlon challenge events in the morning followed by afternoon technical briefing sessions that will be Unclassified. The conference will focus on emerging concepts, innovative technologies, and unique approaches to current challenges that exist within contested and congested electromagnetic spectrum operations.

The EMSO Decathlon is a STEM-focused hands on competition consisting of 10 team-based technical challenges that include principles of Electronic Warfare, Information Operations, and Cyber Warfare. The challenges require basic knowledge in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics with an aim to maximize the learning experience, promote intellectual development of EW/Cyber/Spectrum skill-sets, and recognize superior “EMSO Decathletes.”  Decathlon participants will engage in basic exercises in spectrum, radio frequency propagation, frequency allocation, polarization, direction finding and geolocation, repeater placement, satellite communications, waveforms, jamming principles, cyber vulnerability concepts, EMS trivia challenge and more, progressing through a series of interactive lanes featuring technologies, equipment and platforms utilized today and planned for the future.

The Israeli AOC Chapter 13th Conference

EW – the cornerstone of national security – past, present and future.

Marking 70 years for the State of Israel.

May, 8, 2018
In the ELTA auditorium, Ashdod

The conference classification is SECRET and open to Israeli citizens with appropriate clearance.

For information : info@iaoc.org.il

The Australian AOC 2018 Cyber Electromagnetic Activities (CEMA) convention

Investigate both organizational and technical interoperability and collaboration across EW, CEMA and IO battlespace.

May 28-30
Adelaide Convention Center
South Australia

The Marine Corps has refined its vision for a large sea-based unmanned aerial system (UAS) after honing in on capability gaps the Marines most urgently need to fill. Since creating a program of record for the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) UAS Expeditionary (MUX) in the summer of 2016, the service has learned much about what it really needs, what industry can provide, and how to keep the program’s cost from becoming unmanageable, Col. James Frey, the director of the Marine Corps’ Aviation Expeditionary Enablers branch, told USNI News in an April 18 interview. (USNI News)

Last month, Congress agreed on a spending plan to raise the Budget Control Act caps and finally completed on the FY 18 Omnibus Appropriations Act, which funds the government through the end of the fiscal year (September 30). These actions cleared the way for the congressional defense committees to dive into FY 19 defense spending, both the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and FY 19 Defense Appropriations Act, with much less controversy standing in the way.

Syria today presents the “most aggressive [electronic warfare] environment on the planet from our adversaries,” according to the head of Special Operations Command. Speaking before an audience at the annual GEOINT symposium April 24 in Tampa, Florida, Gen. Raymond “Tony” Thomas said adversaries are testing the U.S. every day. (C4ISRNET)

Since first initiating the reforms of the Russian Armed Forces in the fall of 2008, Moscow has developed a number of complimentary niche capabilities. The unifying themes of these reforms have been asymmetry and the recognition that the means and methods of modern warfare have changed. In large part, this has meant the adoption and integration of command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) in the Armed Forces, itself a reflection of the move away from platform-based operations to operating in a networked-informational environment. (The Jamestown Foundation)

The Compass Call is supposed to be one of America’s foremost electronic warfare weapons, but the EC-130s flying near Syria are being attacked and disabled “in the most aggressive EW environment on the planet,” the head of Special Operations Command said here today. “Right now in Syria we are operating in the most aggressive EW environment on the planet from our adversaries. They are testing us every day, knocking our communications down, disabling our EC-130s, etcetera,” Gen. Raymond Thomas told an audience of some 2,000 intelligence professionals. (Breaking Defense)

U.S. Navy warships are getting a significant boost in electronic warfare capability that should help protect those vessels from missile attack. Engineers at the Navy’s Naval Surface Warfare Center - Crane Division are upgrading the AN/SLQ-32 electronic warfare (EW) system, which was originally introduced in the 1970s, to the current state of the art. (The National Interest)

Right now, Marine Corps vehicles are exposed, and threatened by drones and other airborne dangers that could target the entire ground fleet, which lacks built-in defenses. But testing, fielding and money is charging at the problem at all levels, two Marine generals told Congress on April 18 during a House Armed Services Committee hearing. (Marine Corps Times)