Contested environment

A contested environment is where the Electromagnetic Spectrum (EMS) is challenged, impacting the ability for friendly forces to freely operate and manoeuvre.

Typically, these are peer-to-peer conflicts whereby technical supremacy is more difficult to achieve or sustain, meaning normal day-to-day missions are subject to electromagnetic deception, degradation, or denial.

Users could experience communications degradation, communications and radar sensor interference, or spoofing/jamming of their position, navigation and timing capabilities. Distributed, lower power devices are less susceptible to detection and targeting; however, the threat will not be fully moved. This makes contested environments dynamic, unpredictable, and requiring adaptability and resilience.