UK CyberEM Command to spearhead new era of armed conflict • The Register

Revealing more details about the Cyber and Electromagnetic (CyberEM) military domain, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) says “there are pockets of excellence” but improvements must be made to ensure the country’s capability meets the needs of national defense.

The government’s Strategic Defence Review [PDF] was published on Monday and illustrated for the first time how crucial the new CyberEM Command, announced last week, will be to the UK’s overall military strategy.

An extensive document, the SDR noted that CyberEM is now being treated as a single military domain and “is at the heart of modern warfare, the enabling domain that integrates all others.”

It is the only domain that is contested every single day, with attacks on critical infrastructure constantly being defended against, and the military needs a resilient electromagnetic spectrum in order to fight on the battlefield.

The “cyber” part refers to defensive and offensive cyber operations, which are to be carried out by the new Command and the existing National Cyber Force. These operations involve targeting specific adversarial networks or technology and either degrading or destroying them.

Electromagnetic warfare refers to the communication signals relied upon by enemy technology, including battlefield comms and signals between missiles and controllers.

“Achieving precision and lethality in all domains, at scale and reach, relies on winning the CyberEM contest,” according to the SDR.

“The domain is the foundation of the new Digital Targeting Web that will enable choice and speed in deciding how to degrade or destroy an identified target.”

The idea of a Digital Targeting Web was explained alongside the CyberEM Command’s announcement last week.

Essentially, this is an initiative to connect all British military assets in a way that empowers the armed forces to launch coordinated attacks.

Defence secretary John Healey offered an example of this during the announcement. Imagine an F-35 or drone, both capable of dropping a destructive payload on a target such as a warship, was linked to a satellite via the Digital Targeting Web, which could coordinate or guide the munition to the intended target.

Together, the CyberEM Command and the Digital Targeting Web are part of the improvements to build on the “pockets of excellence” that exist in UK defense.

Examples of these pockets include the Army’s Cyber and Electromagnetic Effects Group, the Air and Space Warfare Centre, the Royal Navy’s Information Warfare Group, and Space Command.

However, the review noted that these pockets of excellence “risk being less than the sum of their parts” if improvements aren’t delivered, and the CyberEM domain would ultimately remain a limiting factor in achieving a tech-enabled, integrated military.

CyberEM Command’s makeup

While the CyberEM Command and National Cyber Force will work together on defensive and offensive operations, the SDR’s wording and naming decisions of the two divisions certainly suggest the Command will take the more leading role.

The idea is that CyberEM Command’s role is to cohere rather than execute, and lead the CyberEM domain similarly to how the UK Space Command handles its area of British defense.

According to the SDR: “As the domain lead, the CyberEM Command should command defensive cyber operations, set Defence demand for offensive cyber operations, and cohere Defence contributions to activity in the domain, while preserving single Service expertise and ability to act.”

To that last point, the MoD stated clearly that the National Cyber Force’s authority should not be affected by the Command or the governance mechanism it is being asked to deliver.

In cases where “cyber effects” need to be aligned with military operations, this integration between domains will be handled by the relevant Joint Commander and supported by the CyberEM Command.

The Command will be the point of contact for all things cybersecurity across UK defense, government, and NATO, while setting the demand for offensive cyber operations across the forces, directing defensive missions and resilience standards, and generally leading the cyber and electromagnetic warfare strategy.

The UK government has tasked the Command with establishing an initial operating capability by the end of the year, primarily guided by the way in which the Space Command blueprint operates.

Broader political context

Regarding the UK’s attitude toward cyber and its role in national security, defence secretary John Healey previously said: “Cyber is now the leading edge, not just of defense, but of contests and tension between countries.”

He also re-emphasized the sentiment shared with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) of late, noting that cyberattacks targeting UK organizations are still very much on the rise.

Monday’s announcements, which also include a NATO-first posture, greater defense investment, and a shift toward “war-fighting readiness,” build on others that have trickled out over the past week.

The UK said this week it will expand its submarine program, build new factories for long-range weapons munitions, and released some details on the CyberEM Command and Digital Targeting Web.

The UK expects to spend more than £1 billion ($1.35 billion) to bring the Command to life.

Healey repeated the same statistic at the launch of the Command as the MoD did when it announced a cyber hiring drive in February – that the UK has been hit by 90,000 sub-threshold attacks in the past two years.

These attacks are the type typically seen in wartime scenarios but are not serious enough to start a war by themselves. Examples include disabling drone-jamming equipment or breaking into an enemy’s computer system.

This all comes against a backdrop of the British armed forces being weakened over several years, primarily due to recruitment failings, mounting workloads, and resource constraints.

One of the government’s foremost ambitions when prime minister Sir Keir Starmer took office last year was to reverse the decline in numbers across the UK’s military.

Hiring drives and staffing new cyber centers are part of that mission, although Healey said growth in overall numbers might not begin until after the next general election, owing to the scale of the decline under the previous Conservative government.

By 2027, Starmer said the UK’s defense spending will reach 2.5 percent of the country’s GDP, although pressure from the shadow cabinet and Donald Trump is urging the prime minister to increase this to 3 percent.

The focus on improving the UK’s military isn’t just a response to mounting cyberattacks, or a politically charged play from Labour to gather more votes during the last election. It follows a damning report from the Commons Defence Committee in February 2024 that declared the UK unprepared for an all-out war.

Once seen as one of the world’s foremost military powers, the report described the UK’s armed forces as “hollowed out,” “consistently overstretched,” and constantly battling “unrelenting pressure” on its personnel levels.

It went on to say the pace of operations meant there was little time for training frontline fighters for wartime, and much work was needed before the forces could be deemed in a healthy state again.

These issues were addressed head-on in the SDR, with the return to war fighting spearheading the new strategy and various measures devoted to increasing jobs and the number of cadets by the tens of thousands before the next election comes around.

Announcing the SDR in the Commons on Monday, Healey said the hollowing out of the UK armed forces ends now.

“Mr Speaker, this SDR is the first defence review in a generation for growth and for transformation in UK defence.

“It will end 14 years of hollowing out in our armed forces, and instead we will see investment increased, the Navy expanded, the army grown, the Air Force upgraded, war fighting readiness restored, NATO strengthened, the nuclear deterrent, guaranteed advanced technology developed, and jobs created in every nation and region of this country.

“Mr Speaker, the Strategic Defence Review will make Britain safer, more secure at home, and stronger abroad.” ®