Electronic Warfare (EW) & Cybersecurity

Electronic warfare (EW) is a critical and rapidly evolving domain within modern defence.  

Capability development in Electronic Support (ES), Electronic Protection (EP), Electronic Attack (EA) and integrated cyber‑electromagnetic activities continues at pace, driven by advances in sensing, signal processing, autonomous systems, and counter‑measure technologies across land, sea, air and space domains.  

Recent defence and industry analyses emphasise the increasing convergence of EW, cyber operations and kinetic systems as militaries worldwide integrate electromagnetic and cyber functions into unified operational architectures. 

The nature of the battlefield is transforming, becoming more remote, connected, autonomous and contested across multiple spectrums, including RF, optical and digital, demanding resilient, adaptive systems that can sense, defend and respond in highly dynamic threat environments.  

In parallel, cybersecurity remains one of the foremost strategic challenges for governments, enterprises, and global commerce.  Digital transformation, cloud adoption, remote connectivity, and AI‑enabled systems have expanded the attack surface, making threats such as phishing, ransomware, credential compromise, payment fraud, and identity attacks both more frequent and more sophisticated.  Microsoft’s latest threat intelligence highlights significant increases in identity‑based attacks and DDoS activity, with password attacks occurring at scale and application‑layer denial‑of‑service attacks growing rapidly in complexity. 

According to leading cybersecurity market forecasts, global cybercrime damage is projected to approach the tens of trillions of dollars annually.  Cybersecurity Ventures and associated research indicated cybercrime costs could grow from an estimated $9.5 trillion in 2024 toward $10.5 trillion by 2025, making cybercrime an ongoing major macroeconomic risk comparable in scale to national economic sectors.  

Because digital ecosystems now permeate every industry, no organisation is immune to compromise.  Operations, revenue, intellectual property, brand reputation and regulatory compliance are all potentially exposed if security controls fail or are bypassed.  At the same time, advances in AI/ML, blockchain, zero‑trust architectures, and quantum‑resilient cryptography are opening new defensive frontiers.  These technologies are not only enabling more adaptive threat detection and mitigation but are also becoming sources of patentable innovation across cybersecurity and defence sectors. 

Our deep experience in defence, communications and cybersecurity gives our Patent Attorneys a unique perspective on navigating this complex landscape.  We support clients throughout the full patent lifecycle, from initial drafting and filing to prosecution, grant and enforcement at major authorities including the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO).  We also understand the geo‑political and regulatory challenges inherent to defence‑linked IP, including national security controls, export/licensing regimes and international collaboration frameworks.  This enables us to help clients protect and commercialise their assets globally. 

Thanks to our defence credentials and track record, we are proud to be recognised as a trusted partner to Ploughshare, the commercialisation arm for the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl).  We help support their clients, partners and spin‑out ventures with strategic IP advice and practical support.