Editing Signals intelligence (section)

===Role in air warfare===
A very common area of ELINT is intercepting radars and learning their locations and operating procedures. Attacking forces may be able to avoid the coverage of certain radars, or, knowing their characteristics, [[electronic warfare]] units may jam radars or send them deceptive signals. Confusing a radar electronically is called a "soft kill", but military units will also send specialized missiles at radars, or bomb them, to get a "hard kill". Some modern air-to-air missiles also have radar homing guidance systems, particularly for use against large airborne radars.

Knowing where each surface-to-air missile and [[anti-aircraft artillery]] system is and its type means that air raids can be plotted to avoid the most heavily defended areas and to fly on a flight profile which will give the aircraft the best chance of evading ground fire and fighter patrols. It also allows for the [[Radar jamming and deception|jamming]] or [[Spoofing attack|spoofing]] of the enemy's defense network (see [[electronic warfare]]). Good electronic intelligence can be very important to stealth operations; [[stealth aircraft]] are not totally undetectable and need to know which areas to avoid. Similarly, conventional aircraft need to know where fixed or semi-mobile [[anti-aircraft|air defense]] systems are so that they can shut them down or fly around them.

{{anchor|ELINT and ESM|ESM|Electronic Surveillance|Electronic Surveillance Measures|Electronic Surveillance System}}