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The United States Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane) has published details of the biennial North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military exercise it hosted in May and June.
The 2024 Thor’s Hammer NATO exercise was an electronic warfare (EW) event testing compatibility and effectiveness of Counter-Radio Controlled Improvised Explosive Devices (C-RCIED) and Counter-Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-sUAS). This is the first time the United States has hosted Thor’s Hammer, which began in 2015 and has been held in Norway, Sweden, and Australia. Since the inception of Thor’s Hammer in 2015, the event has grown from five participating nations to 14 in 2024, when the event hosted more than 200 personnel.
The two main testing sites for Thor’s Hammer 2024 were Camp Atterbury and Muscatatuck Urban Training Center. Camp Atterbury supported test events to improve effectiveness and compatibility against small UAS and IED threats. Muscatatuck Urban Training Center provided simultaneous UAS and IED testing in an urban environment that enhanced collaboration among partner nations and a better understanding of how to optimise employment of diverse electronic countermeasures (ECM) systems.
Thomas Talbert, an NSWC Crane employee, was the Trial Manager for 2024 Thor’s Hammer. He said the event enabled collaboration. “Thor’s Hammer presents the opportunity to understand how systems will behave when operating together,” said Talbert. “The understanding gained concerning the compatibility and interoperability of the multiple nations’ systems has saved lives and will continue to save lives into the future. The ability to collaborate with other engineers, scientists, and operators allows for the improvement of each countries’ ECM systems performance.”
Thor’s Hammer systems were tested alongside each other to identify collaborative opportunities to improve performance of systems in coalition environments. In a battlefield increasingly more defined by electronic warfare, ECM de-confliction has become an essential pre-deployment activity.
“Thor’s Hammer allows the participating nations to test in an environment that is not available in their home country, test against different devices, and collaborate in an atmosphere that occurs when personnel understand and trust each other’s skills and abilities,” said Talbert.
NSWC Crane said on August 14 that intensive ongoing collaboration among the Thor’s Hammer participants has yielded critical changes to operational aspects that will further protect deployed forces. Lyndon Theodore “LT” Snider, TH24 Focal Point Lead, emphasised that while the event bolsters security cooperation with partners, the efforts are intended to keep warfighters safe.
“In a time when the criticality of international military cooperation cannot be overstated, Thor’s Hammer 2024 brought participating nations together to sharpen coalition capabilities in ground electronic warfare,” said Snider. “The event exemplified the cooperative spirit of partner nations who share the common goal of ensuring success on the battlefield and the survivability of troops and equipment.”