NES (NATO electronic warfare support measures system)

NES stands for NATO electronic warfare support measures system. NATO's glossary of acronyms and abbreviations lists NES with that expansion, and gives the French equivalent as système OTAN de mesures de soutien de guerre électronique. The glossary is published in the AAP-15 (2013) glossary of NATO acronyms and abbreviations.

NATO's NC3 acronym list uses a shorter form, giving NES as NATO ESM system. ESM means electronic warfare support measures, so NES is a term tied to the part of electronic warfare that gathers information from electromagnetic emissions rather than the part that jams or deceives. The shorter wording is recorded on the NATO acronyms list for N.

Where NES sits in NATO electronic warfare terminology

NATO material describes electronic warfare as made up of three parts: electronic warfare support measures (ESM), electronic countermeasures (ECM) and electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM). NES falls under the first of these.

• ESM covers obtaining operational information by detecting, intercepting, locating, recording, analysing and identifying electromagnetic emissions.
• ECM covers actions that interfere with or degrade an adversary's use of the electromagnetic spectrum.
• ECCM covers measures that protect friendly systems against electronic countermeasures.

These divisions are set out in NATO Military Committee documents, including MC 0212 and MCM-0039-1977.

NATO electromagnetic warfare activity around ESM

NATO's current electromagnetic warfare work includes maintaining the NATO Emitter Database (NEDB). The database is an information-sharing tool that identifies and describes electromagnetic systems and the platforms associated with them. NATO sets this out on its electromagnetic warfare page. Emitter knowledge and support measures work together, since detecting and identifying an emission is the core of ESM.

For checking terminology, NATO also maintains NATOTerm, its official database of non-classified military terminology, available at the NATOTerm portal.

How Canada uses the related term ESM

Canadian Armed Forces sources use the abbreviation ESM rather than NES. Royal Canadian Air Force doctrine lists ESM as “electronic warfare support measures” in its abbreviations list. National Defence's threat and capability assessment for Canada's fighter aircraft describes ESM as a means of locating and identifying potential threats by detecting emissions from other platforms.

Other Canadian material shows where the capability sits in practice:

• The Canadian Forces Land Electronic Warfare Modernization project is intended to improve the ability of the Canadian Armed Forces to monitor, manage and deliberately deny use of the electromagnetic spectrum. See the Defence Capabilities Blueprint entry.
• The Royal Canadian Air Force electronic warfare course covers ESM alongside signals intelligence, electronic countermeasures, electronic protection measures and defensive electronic warfare systems.

What NES means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

The users of this terminology in Canada are the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces. A requirement that refers to ESM or to NATO electronic warfare systems concerns the detection, analysis, identification or location of electromagnetic emissions. Bid teams should read NES as the NATO label for a support measures system, and read the related Canadian ESM wording the same way.

The wording, standards and security requirements that apply to a bid come from the solicitation itself. Check its definitions, technical requirements and referenced documents, and confirm what any NATO or ESM reference means for your offer before you price or commit to compliance.