Which modulation technique is listed as commonly targeted by EW, with OFDM being an acceptable alternative?

• A. QPSK
• B. BPSK
• C. QAM
• D. OFDM

Answer: (D)

Electronic warfare tends to focus on modulation schemes that are widely used across modern links because those are the ones you’re most likely to encounter in the field. OFDM stands out because it underpins a huge portion of today’s communications—Wi‑Fi, LTE/5G, digital television, and more—so it’s a natural and practical target for EW operations. Its multicarrier structure splits the signal into many subcarriers across a broad bandwidth, which means disruption can be applied across multiple subcarriers or selectively to degrade the overall link more efficiently than trying to jam a single-carrier waveform. The spectral footprint of OFDM is also easier to detect and analyze, which helps an EW system plan effective interference or exploitation, and the presence of pilot tones and other structured elements can be avenues where degradation of channel estimation or timing can affect performance.

While other modulations like QPSK, BPSK, or QAM are used in various systems, they don’t have the same universal deployment across modern networks as OFDM does, so OFDM is the most commonly targeted. If OFDM isn’t the specific target in a scenario, the general approach often still relies on the broad, wideband characteristics of the multicarrier signal that OFDM represents, which is why it’s listed as an acceptable alternative.