- Russian jamming rendered US-supplied HIMARS rocket launchers “completely ineffective.”
- A confidential assessment of Ukrainian weapons was viewed by the Washington Post.
- The jamming also affected Musk’s Starlink, causing serious communications problems for Ukraine.
US-supplied HIMARS rocket launchers have become “completely ineffective” due to Russian electronic jamming systems, according to a new report.
A confidential assessment of Ukrainian weapons, seen by The Washington Post, indicates that Ukraine has had to stop or reduce its use of many weapons supplied by the United States due to targeting problems.
The report mentions weapons such as the Excalibur GPS-guided artillery shells and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS.
“Excalibur technology in existing versions has lost its potential,” the assessment notes. Its use on the battlefield in Ukraine refuted its reputation as a “one-shot, one-target” weapon.
The HIMARS system, capable of firing rockets up to 80 kilometers, was hailed early in the war as a lifeline for Ukraine, but now poses a much smaller threat on the battlefield, a senior official said. Ukrainian military source at the Post.
“The Russians deployed electronic warfare, disabled satellite signals and HIMARS became completely ineffective,” the source told the Post. According to the assessment, Russian jamming may cause the missiles to miss a target by 50 feet or more.
Earlier this week, a report revealed that US-supplied glide bombs were also continually missing their targets due to Russian jamming.
Other systems, including the UK’s Storm Shadow missile and the US Army’s Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), are much less susceptible to Russian jamming.
Jamming is a very inexpensive tactic because the software is relatively cheap and can destroy munitions worth tens of thousands of dollars, Defense One reported.
The Russian jamming system operates from the ground, projecting a “cone” that prevents weapons from communicating with satellites. These satellites guide the missiles towards their targets.
Russia “has continued to expand its use of electronic warfare,” a senior U.S. official, who was not named, told the Post. “And we continue to evolve and ensure that Ukraine has the capabilities it needs to be effective.”
However, earlier this month, Mike Nagata, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general who led special operations in the Middle East, said the United States was “still lagging behind” in terms of capabilities. electronic warfare. Defense One reported.
“The gap between what the United States should be and what we are, in my opinion, continues to widen, not everywhere, but in far too many places,” Nagata said at the SOF Week conference in Tampa, Florida. He called on the United States to be more creative in regaining its dominance in electronic warfare.
Russian jamming technology has even targeted Elon Musk’s Starlink service in Ukraine.
Since the beginning of the war, the Ukrainian army has used SpaceX Starlink Satellite Internet Service to communicate and coordinate attacks.
But earlier this month, the Russian military managed to disrupt Starlink, creating serious problems for Ukrainian frontline troops, according to The New York Times.
Members of Ukraine’s 92nd Assault Brigade said Starlink became extremely slow as Russian troops launched a major assault across the northern border toward Kharkiv.
“A day before the attacks, he just stopped,” a soldier who goes by the name Ajax told the media outlet. “It got super, super slow.”
“We are losing the fight against electronic warfare,” Ajax said.
News Source : www.businessinsider.com
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