CDF airborne electronic warfare
In its most expansive definition, Air Service electronic warfare aircraft and units use radio wave transmissions to further the conduct of military operations for Sober Thought's Community Defence Forces.
The boundaries among electronic warfare, airborne warning and control and reconnaissance become blurred in practice. However, EW is usually restricted to describing activities which intercept, mislead or jam radar, satellite and other communications signals emitted or used by the enemy. In brief, EW tends to be more active than AWACS and more aggressive than recce.
On an air strategic level, one squadron of purpose-built jets (a variant of a two engined jet of T series of strategic transport aircraft) are raised in each wave of one hundred million population. On a land tactical level, single EW variants of the F-1 fighter may be employed at the squadron or wing level. On a naval expeditionary level, a flight of three purpose-built FNE-1 jets is embarked on the carrier commissioned by the CDF Naval Service in each wave. Each of these levels will be fully discussed in turn.
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Strategic electronic warfare in the Air Service
The Air Service proper is the only CDF service to use whole squadrons of EW aircraft, so it numbers them in an ordinal sequence shared with AWACS squadrons, odd numbers being warning and control, and even numbers being electronic warfare. E.g., 1st Warning and Control Squadron, 2nd Electronic Warfare Squadron, 3rd Warning and Control Squadron, 4th Electronic Warfare Squadron.
Whatever their number or title, they are assigned unique three letter squadron codes. The letter on the other side of the roundel identifies the specific aircraft in the squadron and is unduplicated in each wave since there are only 18 aircraft and 24 useful letters (the letters I and O excepted because of their similarity with the numbers 1 and 0).
Nine EW aircraft in the lone squadron per wave fall under the overall command of a Chief Lieutenant assisted by a Lieutenant. Each jet plane has an aircraft crew of ten, four actual flight crew (pilot, co-pilot, navigator and flight engineer) and six cabin crew dedicated to EW (EW chief, EW deputy chief, four EW technicians). The CO, XO, a Vice Lieutenant EW chief, a Vice Warrant Officer squadron sergeant-cum-navigator, and six additional non-commissioned members make up a spare crew.
The ground crew of 125 is broken up into an Air Maintenance Flight of 90 and an Administration Flight of 35 (45 including the extra crew headed by the CO). Maintenance crew take care of the airplanes, which don't require any ordnance technicians but do require more electronics technicians, and the administration crew take care of the people, who need to fed and pampered as much as anybody.
Tactical electronic warfare supporting the Land Service
The CDF Land Service tends to use EW aircraft in singles, pairs or trios in its organic air wings and groups supplied by the CDF Air Service but under the former’s operational control. As such, there is no specific squadron or even flight permanently assigned to the EW role.
However, unofficial specialties do develop and the presence of an "E" in the fourth position on the fuselage in a fighter or tactical reconnaissance squadron is highly suggestive. It usually indicates an aircraft crew which is qualified for conducting tactical EW once the F-1 or FR-1 has been converted into an FE-1. Outwardly, they are so similar to the conventional combat variant that an untrained or hurried eye would not detect the difference.
Tactical EW crews are small, since the aircraft they fly have only two seats. The pilot may be a special relief one brought in specifically for EW, but can be the regular pilot. In place of the usual fighter air weapons technician is an EW technician who performs similar functions but with more intangible weapons.
On each carrier there is a carrier air group, and within each CAG is a utility wing. The naval electronic warfare flight fits into this wing's electronics squadron. Numbering indicates wave, since there is only one CAG, one CUW and one CES raised for each wave of population. The flight itself just bears a name, taking its identity from the squadron, e.g., Electronic Warfare Flight of the 4th Carrier Electronics Squadron.
Care is taken to ensure that the fourth letter on the fuselage, to the right of the roundel, duplicates neither one in the CES (a given) nor one in the six short naval fighter squadrons. This is because the EW aircraft are often used in support of naval fighters and virtually grafted onto the squadron for extended periods.
Three FNE-1 Fannie variants of the FN-1 naval fighter are permanently equipped with EW equipment. Stripped of electronics and rearmed, however, they may augment or replace aircraft in the fighter squadrons. The flight has a spare pilot and a spare EW tech, whom also serve as the flight CO and flight sergeant, respectively.
The bulk of the electronics squadron comes from elsewhere -- AWACS, tower-based air traffic control and tower-based signals. The EW flight's contribution to the carrier utility wing's maintenance and administration squadrons is minor at 38 all ranks.
Electronic warfare aircraft variants
The Community Defence Forces' TE strategic EW aircraft variant has no obvious real world model. However, with an abnormally large crew of 10, it looks and functions a lot more like an EW Nimrod, an EW P-3 Orion, a beefed up E-2 Hawkeye or a scaled down E-3 AWACS. Strategic EW flights might be used to mask very large air transport movements, or precede a major bombing run. Silhouettes and fuller technical details to be created later.
The FE-1 and FNE-1 are similar in concept to the and execution to the real world EF-18 and EA-6 Prowler with crews of two. Basically, they are all fighters which have exchanged their ballistic armament for electronic armament. They are typically the lead aircraft of a larger flying unit, confusing or blinding the enemy so the force can continue unmolested. They rely on their full-armed mates to protect them if things don't go as planned. Silhouettes and fuller technical details to be created later.
