Electronic Warfare Ascendant: Air Defence Is Being Defeated Before the First Shot

In June 2025, the United States launched a coordinated strike against Iranian nuclear facilities that relied heavily on deception and electronic warfare before kinetic weapons were employed. More than 125 aircraft participated, including stealth platforms and support assets, while submarines launched Tomahawk cruise missiles as the strike package approached Iranian airspace. Iran’s air defence network failed to engage the attacking aircraft during the operation.

Military analysts note that modern air campaigns increasingly combine stealth aircraft such as the F-35 with decoys, cyber disruption, and electronic attack to saturate or confuse radar systems. These tactics force defenders to waste time distinguishing real threats from false signals and degrade their command and control loops.

Parallel developments appeared in January 2026 during a U.S. special operation in Caracas, where Venezuelan officials claimed advanced electronic warfare tools disabled radar and communications before forces entered the city. Experts suggested that the effects described were consistent with high-powered microwave or electronic attack systems capable of disrupting electronics and sensors without visible damage. Similar developments are observable in the February 2026 of the US against Iran

Reports from the operation also triggered renewed debate about directed-energy or acoustic devices that may incapacitate personnel or electronics. While details remain classified, U.S. investment in directed-energy systems and electromagnetic attack capabilities has accelerated in recent years.

Air superiority is shifting from platform competition to sensor competition. The decisive step in a strike is no longer destroying air defences but making them unable to see or decide.

Electronic warfare, cyber operations, and decoys can impose a cost asymmetry. Defenders must spend expensive missiles and attention on uncertain signals, while attackers deploy comparatively cheap drones, decoys, or software attacks.

This also compresses decision time. When radar pictures become unreliable, command chains slow down or freeze, which opens corridors for stealth aircraft and cruise missiles.

The opening phase of modern warfare increasingly occurs in the electromagnetic spectrum rather than the sky. The side that collapses the enemy’s sensing and decision loop first effectively wins the battle before kinetic strikes begin.

Electronic warfare is moving from a supporting capability to a primary strike enabler. This favours companies developing radar decoys, spectrum dominance tools, and directed-energy systems.

Defence primes such as Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC), and BAE Systems (LSE: BA) are expanding electronic warfare portfolios alongside stealth platforms. Smaller specialist firms focused on electromagnetic attack, sensor fusion, and counter-drone discrimination are also attracting defence procurement funding.

The cost imbalance between cheap drones or decoys and expensive air defence interceptors will likely drive further investment in AI-assisted radar discrimination, electronic attack pods, and directed-energy weapons.

Investors should track procurement programmes tied to spectrum dominance and electronic warfare modernisation across NATO and Indo-Pacific militaries.

The ability to control or disrupt the electromagnetic spectrum so that friendly forces can sense, communicate, and strike while adversaries cannot.

Why it matters

Sources: reuters.com

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