ECM Jammer is an electronic countermeasure designed to deceive radar, sonar or other systems such as infrared or laser detection.
Battlefield 3[]
| ECM Jammer | |
| |
| Below Radar (AH) Laser Painter (SH) Beam Scanning (Jet) ← → Guided Rocket (AH) | |
| Unlocked at |
• 44000 AH score |
| Special Feature |
Temporary protection against new weapon locks |
| Vehicle type |
Air vehicles (Pilot) |
| Customization slot |
Vehicle gadget |
The ECM Jammer is a specialization for pilots of air vehicles.
When deployed, the ECM hides the player from enemy radar and prevents enemies from acquiring weapon lock. This is in contrast to IR Flares, which are designed to dispel heat-seeking missiles. The ECM Jammer is the last unlock for jets and scout helicopters.
The ECM lasts for five seconds and requires ten seconds before it can be reactivated. Since recharge time is counted from when the jammer is first activated, this leaves a minimum exposure time of five seconds between uses.
In attack and scout helicopters, good defensive strategy is for the pilot to use the ECM to take cover behind a hill, building, or mountain until the Jammer recharges.
Missile deflection[]
Although the game makes no mention of this ability, the ECM Jammer can occasionally deflect incoming missiles. The 1.05 Patch (June 2012) intends to make this effect more reliable. Prior to the patch, ECM performance against missiles was severely limited.[1]
The ECM Jammer is very useful for helicopters, most notably in the attack choppers. This works quite well when hovering and deploying ECM when the player hears the "Missiles launched" warning tone (short high beeping). However, the ECM Jammer only prevents the missile from tracking the vehicle; if the player flies very high, it is possible that once the ECM Jammer deactivates, the missile will retrack the vehicle. It often depends on the distance between the player and the enemy who launched the missile.
If activated after hearing the "incoming missile" tone (short high beeping), any launched missile will still track the vehicle's general vicinity, but circle around attempting to locate its actual position. The pilot can fly near terrain or buildings that can catch the orbiting missile. If the missile is still live when the ECM Jammer deactivates, it will cause damage as normal.
On jets, however, ECM does not work as well when it comes to deterring launched missiles.[2] It is better used to prevent weapon lock.
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Battlefield 4[]
| ECM Jammer | |
| |
| Vehicle type |
• Scout Helicopter |
| Customization slot |
Countermeasure |
The ECM Jammer returns in Battlefield 4 as a vehicle countermeasure specialization.
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