ABSTRACT
Few in the West recognize just how much radioelectronic combat (REC) covers under its broad umbrella. This lack of understanding has generated a number of misconceptions which can be traced, at least in part, to the handful of Western writers who have tackled the subject. None has come close to giving REC a comprehensive treatment, although many have discovered and reported valuable new knowledge. By Soviet definition, REC is a form of operational, or battle, support. The Military Encyclopedic Dictionary only lists two major subelements of REC as "constituent parts": radioelectronic suppression and radioelectronic protection. It would hardly be fair to outline the structure of REC without saying a few words about jamming. Traditionally, jamming radars and communications has been the bread and butter of electronic warfare, REC, and their predecessors. The extreme scope of REC poses intriguing questions as to how well it has been integrated into all aspects of Soviet military planning.
