Yudh Abhyas has matured from a platoon-level bilateral drill into a multi-domain interoperability exercise where electronic warfare is treated as a combat enabler rather than a niche specialty. Past editions have routinely folded EW into combined arms training, and recent India US exercises have increased the tempo of subject matter exchanges on UAS, counter UAS, information operations and spectrum management.

If you are scanning the likely EW priorities for a future Yudh Abhyas cycle you should plan from three pragmatic starting points: first, EW will be integrated, not bolted on; second, counter UAS will remain a high priority; third, spectrum data and RF sensing will be exercised as shared battle space information. Those are not predictions pulled from thin air. India and the US have been running integrated SME exchanges across exercises and HADR drills, and both services have been investing in RF data and EW experimentation that pushes effects and sensing deeper into tactical workflows.

Operational focus areas I expect to see exercised and evaluated

  • Integrated EW effects in tactical maneuver. EW assets will be tasked to support heliborne insertions, artillery fires, and aviation strikes by providing reactive jamming, communications shaping and radar deception that create windows of opportunity for maneuver forces. Expect live drills to validate command sequencing between fires, aviation and EW nodes, with clearance and battle damage assessment loops.

  • Counter UAS and layered defeat. Small UAS threats are the universal training problem set. Look for layered detection and defeat chains combining passive RF detection, radar/EO cueing and both soft kill EW techniques and hard kill shooters. Joint working groups have emphasized UAS/counter UAS tradecraft in recent India US events; that practical emphasis tends to show up in follow-on Army exercises.

  • RF data sharing and spectrum situational awareness. The US Army RF Data Pilot and related experiments are pushing a payload centric, data driven model for EMS operations. In an exercise context that translates into experiments where RF signatures, emitter maps and geolocation outputs are fused and fed to effects nodes in near real time. Expect range experiments that validate low latency RF data pipelines and standardized messaging between allies.

  • Cyber, EM and ISR cross domain coupling. Large Indian naval and tri service exercises have explicitly included cyber and electronic warfare phases to validate multi-domain chaining. Exercise constructs that crosslink cyber and EW for deception, denial and resilience will be used to stress test command and control under degraded comms.

  • Tradecraft and emitter management. Field teams will practice emitter classification, emitter geolocation, and selective suppression while practicing EMCON discipline and signatures management. These are the routine but essential skills that let a force exploit local EMS advantages without giving away position or intent.

Tactical implications for units and EW teams

  • Prepare comms plans that assume contested spectrum. Prioritize redundant comms paths, rapid rekeying and layered authentication. EW nodes must be prepared to shape local comms to support command continuity under jamming pressure.

  • Standardize emitter reporting and data formats. If the exercise is testing RF data pipelines, teams that can quickly convert raw detections into geo-located tracks and distribute them will shorten the decision loop and demonstrate operational value.

  • Design EW effects with deconfliction in mind. Integrated EW must be bounded by clear effects authorities, frequency clearance protocols and fratricide mitigation. High tempo jamming without a control plan breaks friendly links faster than it suppresses the enemy.

What to watch for in public reporting and official notices

  • Subject matter expert exchanges and working groups tagged to UAS/counter UAS, information warfare and communications usually presage hands on EW experimentation during the field phase. Recent HADR and theatre exercises have published such SME events; those are the places where tactics get iterated.

  • Mentions of RF data experiments, data pilots or payload centric experimentation indicate the exercise will include messaging and data fusion validation between sensor and effects nodes. Those are the most likely places allied forces will test cross platform emitter sharing.

Ground rules for civilians and hobbyists

  • Do not attempt live jamming, spoofing or any on air emissions intended to interfere with aircraft, ships, public safety or commercial services. Those actions are unlawful and dangerous. Instead replicate signatures and EW algorithms in shielded lab conditions or use anechoic chambers and wired simulation setups.

  • Learn the tradecraft in software. Study emitter classification, direction finding algorithms, digital signal processing and passive geolocation using recorded datasets or synthetic signal generators. Those skills translate into safe, useful EW competence.

Bottom line

Yudh Abhyas will continue to be a venue where the operational relationship is hardened by practical, domain crossing work on EW, counter UAS and RF data fusion. Based on recent trilateral and bilateral SME exchanges and the trend toward operational RF data pilots and combined cyber EW phases, the exercise playbook will emphasize integrated EW as an enabler for maneuver, layered counter UAS and validated RF-data pipelines for tactical decision advantage. Teams that prepare for contested-spectrum operations, data sharing and disciplined effects management will derive the most operational value from participation.