CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – The Marine Corps Software Factory (MCSWF) is creating a training tool to provide Marines the ability to visualize their Electromagnetic Spectrum Signature (EMSS) called the All-domain Electromagnetic Radio Operator Trainer (AERO-T) and are collaborating with Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity (MCTSSA) to bring the solution to the Fleet Marine Force (FMF).

AERO-T began as the subject of Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) thesis work by Marine Corps Maj Will Oblak and Capt Niles Moffat. This research identified a need across the service for improved EMSS training at the tactical level. In addition, it identified a technological solution which detects the radio frequencies produced by Marines training in the field and uses simulated enemy electronic warfare assets to show Marines their EMSS use. It trains Marines how to operate and manage their EMSS within a live, virtual, constructive training environment (LVC-TE).

“Once we understood the nature of the EMSS environment, we could place synthetic enemy receivers across the landscape and show Marines how far their EMSS will travel in a given environment,” said GySgt Patrick Sherlund, MCSWF’s AERO-T product manager and lead software engineer. “All of this is done through a simple web interface that is easy for any Marine to understand. It’s a level of training that we have never been able to produce before this.”

Oblak started his NPS Thesis in the spring of 2024. His goal was to enhance EMSS training at the tactical level in the Marine Corps.

“The current method of training our Marines on their EMSS use involves specialized equipment, deploying at a tremendously expensive cost, that trains the leadership, but not always the front-line operator,” said Oblak. “We needed something that can teach Marines to treat their communication equipment with the same respect they treat their rifle.”

Over the last nine months MCSWF took the idea generated by this research and developed the system into an actual capability. They did this in-house with their uniformed developers, led by Sherlund.

MCTSSA has been an integral partner and stakeholder alongside MCSWF in the implementation of Oblak’s thesis. Over the past six years, MCTSSA’s Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (EMSO) team has been providing EMSO support to the FMF as a service using exquisite commercial equipment. “MCTSSA’s unique experience has ideally positioned them to provide the subject matter expertise and direct connection to the fleet,” said Oblak. “These relationships highlight what is capable when academia, software development, and fleet expertise are fused together.”

MCTSSA’s EMSO team noted the challenges associated with this type of training and applied their expertise to help generate a combined solution with MCSWF.

“There isn’t an organic solution for Marine Corps units to view their EMSS that exists today,” said Mark Bawroski, MCTSSA Warfighter Support Officer. “AERO-T allows us to seek out EMS emissions in real time, with the software created by MCSWF, and show those emissions to units in training in a small and affordable form factor.”

To best integrate this information into tools that Marine units are currently utilizing, MCSWF developed AERO-T Android Tactical Assault Kit (ATAK)plugin and AERO-T Command Terminal that will allow units to view the data collected by the AERO-T systems.

“AERO-T gives our communications Marines something we’ve never had before,” said CWO2 Kevin Porter, strategic electromagnetic spectrum officer, assigned to 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF). “An equity that delivers blue force sensing and spectrum monitoring in a small, adaptable package. What makes this different is that it wasn’t handed to us by contractors. It was built at the MCSWF, by Marines who understand the fight, for Marines who will use it. That’s the real achievement.”

In addition to support from the MCSWF, MCTSSA has added another level of support to AERO-T.

“MCTSSA has been nothing but supportive of the vision since day one,” said Capt Matt Robinson, deputy director, MCSWF. “Their subject matter expertise has been instrumental in completing this project.”

AERO-T utilizes Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) technology to scan the EMSS in real time and provide that information to training audience in easy-to-understand visual format.

“We developed software that utilizes inexpensive, adaptable COTS hardware in order to track the EMSS,” said Robinson. “The COTS hardware we pair with our AERO-T simulation software mimic the capabilities of our near-peer adversaries. We’re able to adapt, both our hardware and software, to see in a smaller scale, what our adversaries would see with their exquisite and exorbitantly expensive EW equipment.”

According to Robinson, we’re seeing front line troops in current conflicts located, targeted, and killed due to their EMS use.

“The size, scope, and abilities of our near-peer competitors is constantly changing,” said Oblak. “It’s important to recognize that future combat operations will occur in contested EMS environments and our units need to understand how to blend their EMS signatures into their environment.”

Story by Joseph Vincent 

Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity