FM 3-12: Cyberspace Operations & Electromagnetic Warfare

FM 3-12
CYBERSPACE OPERATIONS AND
ELECTROMAGNETIC WARFARE
AUGUST 2021
DISTRIBUTION RESTRICTION:
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
This publication supersedes FM 3-12, dated 11 April 2017.
HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY

This publication is available at the Army Publishing Directorate site
(https://armypubs.army.mil), and the Central Army Registry site
(https://atiam.train.army.mil/catalog/dashboard).

Foreword
Over the past two decades of persistent conflict, the Army has deployed its most capable communications systems
ever. During this time, U.S. forces have continued to dominate cyberspace and the electromagnetic spectrum
while conducting counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan and Iraq against enemies and adversaries who lack
the ability to challenge our technological superiority. However, in recent years, regional peers have demonstrated
formidable capabilities in hybrid operational environments. These capabilities threaten the Army’s dominance in
both cyberspace and the electromagnetic spectrum.
The Department of Defense information network-Army is an essential warfighting platform that is a critical
element of the command and control system and foundational to success in Army operations. Effectively
operating, securing, and defending the network to maintain trust in its confidentiality, integrity, and availability
is essential to commanders’ success at all echelons. A commander who cannot access or trust communications
and information systems or the data they carry risks the loss of lives, loss of critical resources, or mission failure.
At the same time, our adversaries and enemies are also increasingly reliant on networks and networked weapons
systems. The Army, as part of the joint force, must be prepared to exploit or deny our adversaries and enemies
the operational advantages that these networks and systems provide.
As the Army shifts its focus to large-scale combat operations against regional peers, we must anticipate that these
threat actors will persistently attempt to infiltrate, exploit, and degrade access to our networks and data. In the
future, as adversary and enemy capabilities grow, our continued dominance of cyberspace and the electromagnetic
spectrum will become less certain, while at the same time our ability to access cyberspace and spectrum-
dependent capabilities will become both more challenging and more critical to fight and win in multiple domains.
Leveraging cyberspace and electromagnetic warfare effects throughout the competition continuum is key to
achieving relative advantages through cyberspace and the electromagnetic spectrum while denying the same to
our enemies and adversaries. To achieve these positions of relative advantage, commanders must integrate and
synchronize cyberspace operations and electromagnetic warfare with all other available military capabilities using
a combined arms approach. Moreover, intelligence, signal, information advantage activities, space, and fires
capabilities are all critical to successful planning, synchronization, and execution of cyberspace operations and
electromagnetic warfare. Commanders and staffs integrate and synchronize all of these capabilities across
multiple domains and warfighting functions to maximize complementary effects in and through cyberspace and
the electromagnetic spectrum.
FM 3-12 defines and describes the principles and tactics to address challenges in the operational environment
while providing an overview of cyberspace operations, electromagnetic warfare, and their planning, integration,
and synchronization through the operations process. It describes the units that conduct these operations and how
they enable accomplishment of commanders’ objectives in Army operations.
Due to the rapid evolution of friendly and threat capabilities, tactics, techniques, and procedures in cyberspace
and the electromagnetic spectrum, the Cyber Center of Excellence will review and update FM 3-12 and supporting
publications frequently in order to keep pace with the continuously evolving operational environment.
NEIL S. HERSEY
Major General, U.S. Army
Commanding

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*FM 3-12
DISTRIBUTION RESTRICTION: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
*This publication supersedes FM 3-12, dated 11 April 2017.
FM 3-12 i
Field Manual
No. 3-12
Cyberspace Operations and Electromagnetic
Warfare
Contents
Page
PREFACE..................................................................................................................... v
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ vii
Chapter 1 OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT OVERVIEW ........................................................ 1-1
Overview of the Operational Environment ................................................................. 1-1
Cyberspace and the Electromagnetic Spectrum ....................................................... 1-1
Section I – Core Competencies and Fundamental Principles ............................ 1-3
Core Competencies ................................................................................................... 1-3
Fundamental Principles ............................................................................................. 1-4
Section II – Operational Environment ................................................................... 1-4
Cyberspace Domain .................................................................................................. 1-5
Electromagnetic Spectrum ........................................................................................ 1-7
Trends and Characteristics........................................................................................ 1-8
Conflict and Competition ......................................................................................... 1-11
Section III – Contributions to the Warfighting Functions .................................. 1-12
Command and Control ............................................................................................ 1-12
Movement and Maneuver ........................................................................................ 1-13
Intelligence .............................................................................................................. 1-14
Fires ......................................................................................................................... 1-15
Sustainment ............................................................................................................. 1-15
Protection................................................................................................................. 1-15
Chapter 2 CYBERSPACE OPERATIONS AND ELECTROMAGNETIC WARFARE
FUNDAMENTALS ..................................................................................................... 2-1
Section I – Cyberspace Operations ....................................................................... 2-1
Joint Force and Army ................................................................................................ 2-3
Department of Defense Information Network Operations ......................................... 2-4
Defensive Cyberspace Operations ............................................................................ 2-4
Offensive Cyberspace Operations ............................................................................ 2-5
Cyberspace Actions ................................................................................................... 2-5
Section II – Electromagnetic Warfare .................................................................... 2-8
Electromagnetic Attack .............................................................................................. 2-8
Electromagnetic Protection...................................................................................... 2-11
Electromagnetic Support ......................................................................................... 2-14
Headquarters
Department of the Army
Washington, D.C., 24 August 2021