CRS INSIGHT
U.S. Military Electronic Warfare Research and
Development: Recent Funding Projections
April 15, 2019 (IN11100)
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John R. Hoehn
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John R. Hoehn, Analyst in Military Capabilities and Programs (jhoehn@crs.loc.gov, 7-9074)
The National Defense Strategy Commission
identified Electronic Warfare (EW) as a critical capability to ensure the
U.S. military remains competitive. In its FY2019 and FY2020 Defense Budget overview documents, the Department of
Defense (DOD) identified EW as a priority to improve platform and network survivability; provide advanced jamming
techniques to disrupt radars, communications, and command and control systems; and provide measures to defend the
space domain and maintain power projection forces.
Even before the release of the Commission report, Congress showed an interest in EW programs. In 2015, the Deputy
Secretary of Defense established the EW Executive Commission (EW EXCOM)—cochaired by the Under Secretary of
Defense for Research and Engineering (USD R&E) and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff—to identify
emerging EW technologies. The FY2017 NDAA required the EW EXCOM to develop an EW Strategy; in its strategy,
the EW EXCOM identified program elements and projects with EW facets in each of the services' and Defense-wide
Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriations. It did not identify procurement lines due to
complexity and classification issues. Furthermore, some program elements the EXCOM identified might not fully
provide EW capabilities, like Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA's) Electronics Technology. Other
program elements which support EW operations, however, such as the Navy's E-2D Hawkeye, are not included in the
EXCOM's program list. The following analysis compares the FY2019 budget request for these programs with the
FY2020 request.
DOD views both RDT&E and procurement as investment dollars; therefore, to get a complete picture for DOD
investments in EW programs, analysis should include both. However, in order to provide a timely comparison between
the two budget requests, this article provides a comparison of RDT&E funding only. The analysis that follows includes
funding for the Army, Navy, Air Force, DARPA, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), the Joint Staff, Office
of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), Operational Test and Evaluation (OTE), and Special Operations Command
(SOCOM), using program elements identified by EXCOM in its strategy document, which are aggregated at the
department/agency level.
Table 1. FY2019 Requested and Future Year Funding for DOD Electronic Warfare RDT&E
(in millions of dollars)
