Electronic Support Measures (ESM) has long been a vital defence capability for gaining situational awareness of the ELINT environment and achieving a tactical edge across the air, land and sea battle spaces. Yet due to the high SWAP, cost, and operating requirements of traditional ESM solutions, the capability has typically been reserved for major military platforms.

ESROE’s breakthroughs in ESM technology change this. Deployable anywhere, as a standalone micro sensor or a networked array across battlefields or along coastlines, ESROE has developed low SWAP, autonomous, next-gen ESM for pervasive, advanced threat location and friendly forces protection.

Providing comparable capabilities to traditional ESM systems but with significantly reduced size, weight and power (SWAP) requirements, makes ESROE’s MicroESM solution a low-cost game-changer in the area of battlefield situational awareness. The key to the radical reductions in SWAP for an ESM capability lies in ESROE’s processing software which is highly efficient at identifying radar pulses, making it compatible with small, low-power computing platforms that drastically reduce the overall requirements of the ESM system.

Next-gen ESM: Low cost, scalable, networked deployment
The fully-automated ESM redesign means the capability can also be scaled from individual special forces, to unmanned vehicles, and larger high value platforms – completely changing the way that ESM contributes to the safety of armed forces in hostile environments. Very small, with a low unit cost, MicroESM can be deployed in high volume too, making the solution highly versatile and resilient, as the units can be networked into an intelligent array along borders and battlefields.

Acting as a force multiplier, across domains, MicroESM extends threat warning and covert surveillance capabilities to a wide range of vehicles, so that system operators can penetrate deep into enemy defences, getting closer than ever previously possible to locate targets of interest and measure the characteristics of even low power radars, invisible to longer range intelligence gathering systems.

Cross-domain intelligence
The ultimate solution to the range problem, ESROE’s MicroESM can be fitted to a UAV or drone, which can overcome sensor/target radar elevation limitations of land and/or surface based ESM. Aircraft applications of MicroESM can also provide the location of a radar signal, rather than just the direction to the signal.
Meanwhile, ground forces can augment their radar systems with multiple passive MicroESM sensors to build a more complete picture of the enemy’s electronic order of battle. Mounted on lightly armoured or unarmoured vehicles, MicroESM enables operators to gather additional intelligence to passively detect and locate hostile artillery and attack helicopters, and alert ground forces to enemy units nearby.

The more sensors deployed, the more resilient the system. Person-portable ESROE sensors can be deployed to an individual or team, or networked across a battlefield or along a border, to extend surveillance capabilities way beyond what is currently possible with legacy solutions.

MicroESM also enables EW to become pervasive across oceans and along coastlines, enabling reliable non-cooperative target location across vast search areas to improve threat warnings, e.g. for anti-ship missile defences. Deploying ESM on covert surveillance vessels enables forces to gather operational intelligence from the hardest to reach locations such as beachheads. Whilst fixed to UUVs, MicroESM can provide extra, low cost protection to surfacing vessels by detecting anti-submarine aircraft and fishing boats.

Moreover, networking MicroESM across air, land and sea based micro sensors provides enhanced geolocation and other significant cross-domain EWOS benefits.

Radar detection. Redesigned.
ESROE’s innovative, all aluminium MicroESM sensors will be on display on a number of partner stands at DSEI. During the show, the team is also hoping to share an update from the NATO unclassified REPMUS 2023 trials in Portugal, where networked arrays are being utilised to provide location of radar targets to military end users.

If you’re at DSEI this week, be sure to head to Hall 1, Stand H1-260 in the Joint Zone to learn more about our next-gen ESM capabilities – or get in touch to discuss your requirements.