Before any aircraft or missiles enter a region, the electronic environment is the initial battleground. The physical attacks that follow are only the visible portion of a conflict in which electromagnetic effects have already become critical enablers.

As the U.S. military looks to control the electromagnetic environment, open architecture has emerged as the essential foundation. Systems built around open standards can plug in quickly, share data freely and evolve rapidly – qualities the Department of War sees as critical to Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2).

“The services need systems that can evolve quickly, plug into any environment and stay functional even when the electromagnetic picture is rapidly changing,” said Chris Aebli, President, Communications & Spectrum Dominance, L3Harris.

Open standards allow radios, sensors and battle management tools to easily share data – something military leaders say is central to ensuring units can operate through jamming, spoofing and other disruptions.

Earlier this year, the Army tested those principles through Operation Jailbreak, the service’s first Right to Integrate initiative. More than 50 companies participated in the event, which examined whether commercial and military systems could interoperate with the Army’s data layers. L3Harris Falcon® IV communications devices, the Wraith™ waveform, Wraith Shield™ counter‑UAS software, WESCAM® EO/IR sensors and VAMPIRE™ counter‑unmanned system were among those that received “jailbroken” status, indicating successful data exchange and open interfaces.

“The question the services are asking is no longer, ‘Does this system work?’ It’s, ‘Does this system plug-and-play to work with everything else we already have – and everything we’re going to field?’” Aebli said. “That’s the real test.”

Electronic Warfare Becomes the First Fight

GPS jamming, communications interference and sensor degradation have appeared widely in recent conflicts, often reshaping operations within hours.

“Secure and interoperable communications have become essential for operational success against peer adversaries,” Aebli said. “Comms directly impacts who wins or loses.”

He noted that adversaries continue to experiment with new jamming techniques on a near‑weekly cycle. “If a radio or waveform can’t adapt quickly, it’s effectively outdated by the time it arrives in theater.”

Industry efforts to counter the threat have focused on non‑GPS‑reliant waveforms, spoof‑resistant radios and software-defined networks capable of inserting new protections in near-real time. Non-proprietary waveforms are the basic enabler for this adaptability. Increased data processing at the tactical edge, including AI-enabled threat analysis, is also becoming central.

That approach was demonstrated in July 2026 during a flight demonstration, performed on an L3Harris Green Wolf™ electronic warfare (EW) vehicle. The flight test included the Deceptor™ EW payload and DiSCO™ electromagnetic battle‑management system integrated with Shield AI’s Hivemind autonomy software. Deceptor detected threat radar emissions and passed signal information through DiSCO, enabling Hivemind to autonomously re-route platforms to avoid danger zones without human intervention.

“AI belongs in the part of the fight where milliseconds matter,” Aebli said. “It’s about compressing the time between sensing and acting. Humans stay in the loop for decisions involving force as a principle, not a limitation.”

Interoperable Communications as the Backbone

Ensuring communications interoperability across services, domains and legacy platforms remains one of the most challenging aspects of joint operations. Today, this need extends across both international missions and domestic responses, where forces increasingly rely on networks that must operate across commercial satellite systems, military SATCOM, line‑of‑sight pathways and contingency waveforms.

Systems such as the Rapidly Adaptable Standards-compliant Open Radio™ (RASOR) are part of a broader industry push toward hybrid SATCOM architectures that blend military and commercial networks. The goal is to provide a resilient backbone capable of moving across orbits, bands and constellations without operator intervention.

As joint operations expand to include more U.S. units such as Army Aviation and multinational participants, ensuring seamless Link 16 interoperability becomes essential for coordinated targeting, shared threat warning and real‑time command and control.

Integrating modern radios and hybrid SATCOM architectures with established links like Link 16 helps bridge legacy and next‑generation platforms, strengthening the ability of both allied and domestic forces to operate as a unified, synchronized team.

“Each constellation and orbit brings strengths and limitations,” Aebli said. “That’s precisely why communications cannot depend on any single pathway. You need to ensure there is always a route to move critical information to and from the warfighter.”

Recent conflicts have underscored the value of redundancy. Purpose‑built military SATCOM provides hardened, encrypted resilience under attack, while commercial constellations deliver global coverage and rapid innovation. Defense officials say future architectures will require both.

Focus on the Operator

Despite increasing technical complexity, the end goal remains the same: reduce the burden on warfighters operating under pressure.

“When military personnel or first responders arrive at an incident – whether it’s a national security threat or a natural disaster – their comms need to just work,” Aebli said. “If the warfighter ever has to think about all the engineering behind the radio, then we haven’t succeeded.”