Industry Report: Pakistan’s Electronic Warfare Systems Plus

This report was written by open-source intelligence (OSINT) analyst Farooq (whose other work can be found on X).

As the lines between traditional warfare and counter-unmanned aerial vehicle (C-UAV) operations blur, integrated electronic warfare (EW) systems have emerged as essential and effective assets that operate in the background of most military operations.

The rise of drones has led to the modernization of EW systems to such an extent that now most combat EW (CEW) systems retain a sub-C-UAS capability in addition to traditional jamming roles, such as those of communications.

Pakistan, which had often remained shy from adopting EW at a large scale, seems to be building upon a significant domestic capability to locally produce and use a large portfolio of integrated communications intelligence (COMINT) EW systems.

In the past, foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEM) – notably Rohde & Schwarz (R&S), Siemens (now under Hensoldt), and Elettronica Group (ELT) – dominated Pakistan’s EW landscape, the trend now appears to be shifting towards domestic EW solutions. Three domestic manufacturers are Pakistan’s EW drivers: the National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC), the Defence Science and Technology Organization (DESTO), and the National Aerospace Science and Technology Park (NASTP).

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The ESM vehicle consists of a ‘Strategic Direction’ finding system mounted onto a 6×6 vehicle chassis, which covers a frequency range of 30 MHz to 6000 MHz with a bandwidth (BW) of 300MHz. It also offers high DF accuracy while adopting sensitivity and immunity to reflections. The system utilizes two independent DF engines for processing and allows for detection and direction finding of both fixed as well as agile communication signals. ESM can be mounted onto both fixed and mobile platforms.