The Association of Old Crows (AOC) is a not-for-profit international professional association with over 13,000 members and 180+ organizations engaged in the science and practice of Electronic Warfare (EW), Information Operations (IO), and related disciplines.
AOC has members in 47 countries with 69 chapters in 20 countries. AOC’s membership includes executives, scientists, engineers, managers, operators, educators, and military personnel. Founded in 1964, the AOC owns a headquarters building in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside Washington, DC.
The name “Old Crows” emerged from the first large-scale use of Electronic Warfare during the WWII Battle of Britain and the US and allied bombing raids over Europe. The Allied Radar Countermeasure operators used the code name “Ravens” and employed receivers and transmitters to monitor and jam threat frequencies. Military jargon later changed “Ravens” to “Crows.”
With origins in WWII, Electronic Warfare has been, and remains, a critical enabling capability in military operations in peace and war. With the evolution of digital/computer technology, Electronic Warfare (EW), Information Operations (IO), and related disciplines are increasingly necessary to achieve knowledge superiority, strategic and tactical dominance, and asset protection in both offensive and defensive operations. Information Operations include those actions taken to influence, effect, or defend information, information systems, and decision-making. The development of information technology also enables EW and IO systems to cover both the analog and digital domains including the entire acoustic, magnetic, seismic, and electromagnetic spectrum’s.
Our Mission
The AOC will advocate the need for a strong defense capability emphasizing electronic warfare and information operations to government, industry, academia, and the public. AOC will provide a forum for sharing ideas and experiences through communication, education and leadership.
The AOC will support the community by:
• Improving awareness and understanding
• Identifying deficiencies
• Advocating solutions
• Developing new concepts
• Recognizing the contributions of individuals and organizations
• Documenting historical perspectives and lessons learned
What Does the AOC Do?
AOC promotes the exchange of new ideas and information, and the dissemination of new research and knowledge in the fields of Electronic Warfare and Information Operations.AOC provides a membership subscription to our premiere monthly professional magazine, the Journal of Electronic Defense, which includes news, information, technology updates, and articles on many aspects of defense electronics and information operations.
AOC produces many one-and-two-day advanced technology conferences, forums, courses, and symposia each year (classified and unclassified) enabling representatives of US and friendly nations to discuss defense electronics and information operations issues, programs, and initiatives. Prominent leaders from the military, government, academia, and industry come together to address current policies, new programs, and advanced technology issues. Topics have included Information Operations; Modeling and Simulation; Directed Energy; ELINT; UAV/UCAV Payloads; Radar/EW; Joint Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (JSEAD); Navigation Warfare; EO/IR; Intelligence, Surveillance, & Reconnaissance (ISR); Spacecraft and Satellite Protection and Time Sensitive Targeting; Homeland Security; Passive and Covert Radar; EW and IO fundamentals; and many more subjects of interest to EW/IO professionals.
AOC publishes advanced technology and management studies in support of the government, the military, and industry. AOC-sponsored research committees have investigated the production of traveling wave tubes; the EW Industrial Base; EW Test Methodology; Information Warfare; EW Measures of Effectiveness; Airborne Electronic Attack? Analysis of Alternatives; EW Critical Technologies; A New Approach to EW Acquisition? “The Partnership Process”; and the Airborne Electronic Attack Analysis of Alternatives Study (AEA AOA).
AOC distributes over $60,000 annually, through the AOC Educational Foundation and affiliated chapters, for scholarships and grants to assist military enlisted personnel and US undergraduate students in electrical engineering, physics, mathematics, and related disciplines.
AOC documents the history of Electronic Warfare and Information Operations through books, journals, research projects, and videos. The “History of U.S. Electronic Warfare, Volume I”, was published in 1984, which documented the early beginnings of EW to 1946, Volume II in 1989 (documenting 1946-1964), and Volume III in 2000, which documents the period 1964 to 2000 to include Operation Allied Force. This project will continue with Volume IV in the series “The History of Information Warfare”.
The AOC in Summary
The on-going need for Electronic Warfare and Information Operations systems and capabilities in support of national security underscores the continuing need for the AOC. As AOC addresses its evolving role in fulfilling this future requirement, the AOC takes great pride in the ability of the association and its members to focus on answering this challenge with the experienced, professional perspective of an organization that is over 50 years old.