The essence of this chapter — and at the same time the end of the whole learning path:
- ESM is listening with a purpose: intercepting, measuring, identifying (against the threat library) and responding — with the lasting physical advantage that the listener hears the transmitter before the reverse happens.
- The RWR translates intercepted radar emissions into identity, direction and above all mode: it lets the crew follow the opponent's fire control sequence (The fire control sequence) in real time.
- The MAWS detects the missile itself (UV/IR/radar) and so closes the RWR's gap: the fully passive threat. Together they control the layered self-protection package from Electronic Counter Measures.
That completes the circle of the EW discipline: the physics (Basic arithmetic, quantities and units to The electromagnetic spectrum), the spectrum and its sensors (Military applications within the EMS to Laser and military applications), the chain that forges them into a weapon (Executing the fire control sequence using the EMS to Missile Guidance), and the fight over that chain itself — attacking (Electronic Counter Measures), protecting (Electronic Protective Measures) and listening (EW: Electronic Support Measures), as defined in What is Electronic Warfare?. Anyone who masters these chapters can reason out, for any emission, what it is, what it means and what the answer to it is. That is the craft of the EW specialist.