13 November 2019

Germany sets out ‘challenging' airborne electronic attack timeline for NATO

by Gareth Jennings

The German Air Force (Luftwaffe) is waiting on a government decision to launch a programme to field a dedicated airborne electronic attack (EA) capability for NATO by the mid-2020s, a senior officer said on 13 November.

Speaking in Berlin, Luftwaffe Brigadier-General Christian Leitges, Deputy Chief of Staff Plans and Policy, said the service faces a rapid timeline to deliver the anti-access area denial (A2AD) capability that Germany has committed to NATO under the country’s Luftgestützte Wirkung im Elektromagnetischen Spektrum (luWES) programme, and that it expects the go-ahead from the government shortly.

Along with the Boeing EA-18G Growler, the Eurofighter ECR (concept pictured) could form the escort jammer component of the Luftwaffe's airborne electronic attack commitment to NATO. (Airbus)

“There is a German commitment to NATO to provide [airborne] jamming in the very near future, say within about five years. This is a very rapid timeline and a very big challenge,” Gen Leitges said at the IQPC International Fighter conference, adding that Project luWES should be signed-off in the not-too-distant future if this timeline is to be realised.

The German Air Force (Luftwaffe) is waiting on a government decision to launch a programme to field ...

Jane's Find unrivaled intelligence, consultancy and advertising solutions to the defence and national security sectors.