In an exclusive interview Lieutenant Colonel Emily Hume, commanding officer of the New Zealand Army’s 1st Combat Support Regiment, talks about the unit’s electronic warfare capabilities and how these will evolve.
In mid-January Lieutenant Emily Hume took command of the largest single unit in New Zealand’s Army; the 1st Command Support Regiment (1CSR). According to New Zealand’s Ministry of Defence (MOD), the 1CSR has an array of missions: One of these is Electronic Warfare (EW). Other missions include command and control, and intelligence. 1CSR forms part of the Army’s 1st (NZ) Brigade, its principal manoeuvre formation.
Lt. Col. Hume’s career began when she enlisted in 2005. She commissioned in 2008 and has deployed to the Solomon Islands, and to South Sudan and Lebanon supporting United Nations operations in both countries. She told Armada that since joining the army “I have held a number of appointments from command positions in EW units to communication and information systems units.” Lt. Col. Hume has been a troop commander in the army’s 3rd Signal Squadron, and second-in-command of the 4th Signal Squadron. She returned to the latter unit as officer commanding in December 2018.
The 1CSR’s key responsibility are to “generate combat-ready command and decision support personnel, force elements and equipment to successfully deliver against 1(NZ) Brigade-directed outputs.” Alongside EW, expeditionary C2 networks and intelligence task elements are provided to the brigade “at designated degrees of notice.” This is made possible, Lt. Col. Hume emphasises, thanks to “a range of amazing personnel with a diverse range of trained skillsets.” The 1CSR is currently spread across three bases: Linton Military Camp and Trenton Military Camp, both in the south of New Zealand’s North Island, and Burnham Military Camp towards the north of the South Island.
Unit composition
Signal and intelligence personnel make up the majority of the 1CSR’s complement. Intelligence personnel are drawn from the combat, open-source, geospatial and human intelligence trades, alongside the protective security and counter-intelligence disciplines. Signals personnel trades include radio and satellite communications, information systems, systems engineering, information management, EW and cyber. The 1CSR’s regimental headquarters performs command policy and enablement, technical control, cypher, cyber, and logistics and training support.
Lt. Col. Hume says the primary focus of the ICSR’s EW capabilities is to “enable land forces that support combat focussed outputs for the New Zealand Army. These capabilities can operate in a joint, multinational environment, and often undertake a level of cross training with both maritime and air elements.” In terms of the EW mission “the primary focus of 1CSR’s EW capabilities centre around tactical electronic warfare which will also look to include the ability to deliver non-kinetic effects within the electromagnetic spectrum.”
The Network Enabled Army
Lt. Col. Hume expects the 1CSR’s EW capabilities to “keep pace with the growing demands of future operating environments.” This environment, she believes, is “poised for significant change, driven by both technology and transformation, and developing military strategy.” The deepening of advanced radio waveform technology and encryption will require EW operators to have “a much deeper understanding of the electromagnetic spectrum within their operating environment.” Army EW capabilities are set to advance in concert with the prevailing Network Enabled Army concept being pursued by the MOD. This will see the force being “equipped with a suite of leading-edge tactical EW sensors.”
The 1CSR’s mantra is Ehara taku toa I te toa takitahi, he toa takimano (My strength is not from an individual but from the collective). Lt. Col. Hume and her colleagues will embrace the future with this mantra front and centre as the 1CSR prepares for future contingencies.
by Dr. Thomas Withington
