Demo — Kill Chain Explorer

Demo — Kill Chain Explorer#

The air-threat kill chain is the backbone of the whole course: Detect → Track → Identify → Engage → Kill. Survivability means breaking one of those links, and every EW technique is a tool aimed at a specific link. This demo lets you walk the chain, see which survivability disciplines attack each link, and then test yourself on the ES / EP / EA classification.

The framework#

Each link depends on the one before it. Break any single link and the engagement fails:

\[ \text{Detect} \to \text{Track} \to \text{Identify} \to \text{Engage} \to \text{Kill} \]

Activity in the spectrum is organized into Electronic Support (ES) — sensing and characterizing emissions; Electronic Protection (EP) — defending your own use of the spectrum; and Electronic Attack (EA) — degrading, denying, or deceiving the enemy’s use of it.

Interactive demo#

Open in full screen

Walkthrough#

  1. Click the Detect box. Read which disciplines break this link — low-observable shaping, standoff jamming, emission control. Notice that Detect is where stealth has the most leverage (the fourth-power law from the reading).

  2. Step through Track, Identify, Engage, Kill. Each side panel lists the disciplines and a few example tactics. Watch how the toolkit shifts from signature reduction (early links) to deception and hard-kill defenses (late links).

  3. Note the Kill box is red. It is the outcome to prevent — every technique upstream exists to keep the chain from reaching it.

  4. Play the classification mini-game. A tactic appears (“RWR alerts crew to SAM lock”). Choose ES, EP, or EA. The score tracks correct vs. attempted across ~10 scenarios.

  5. Get one wrong on purpose. Read the explanation. The classification is about the function (listen / defend / attack), not the hardware.

Key observations#

  • The chain is sequential. You do not have to defeat the whole IADS — break the cheapest link at the place and time that matters.

  • One system, multiple roles. An RWR (ES) that cues a jammer (EA) is the canonical pairing; classification describes function, not the box.

  • Detect is special. Because detection gates everything downstream and obeys the fourth-power law, it rewards investment more than any other link.

Source#

MATLAB · code/L1_FourthPowerLaw.m↓

The in-class type-along script plots the fourth-power law \(R_\text{max} = K\,\sigma^{1/4}\) and confirms that a 12 dB RCS reduction halves the detection range.

Contents