A worked scenario that brings the separate techniques together. A package of combat aircraft has to reach a target behind a layered air defence (Threat-reference deck):
- A VHF Early Warning radar detects the package at long range (Radars broken down by role) — coarsely, but enough to alert the chain.
- An acquisition radar (L/S band) picks up the targets and cues the fire control (detect → track, Breaking the defender's kill chain).
- The package responds: a stand-in jammer (EA-18G, Stand-off vs stand-in jamming) raises the J/S at the fire-control radar, while MALD decoys (Decoys and saturation) present false targets.
- The fire-control radar has to transmit in order to fire — and so becomes vulnerable to an anti-radiation missile (HARM, Anti-radiation missiles and the operator's dilemma). The operator faces the operator's dilemma: transmit and be hit, or stay silent and be blind.
- As the package approaches, the jamming effectiveness drops (R² vs R⁴): the radar approaches its burn-through range (Burn-through and the J/S ratio).
Key lesson
No single technique wins on its own. SEAD is the interplay of jamming, decoys, the ARM threat and timing against the kill chain — exactly the material of Executing the fire control sequence using the EMS, Missile Guidance, Electronic Counter Measures and this chapter in a single move.