‘Assume you can be jammed’ — What US troops are learning about electronic warfare in Ukraine

Russia’s use of electronic warfare in eastern Ukraine provides a preview to U.S. troops about what it will be like to fight an adversary that can intercept and jam their communications, sever all links to their drones flying overhead, and blind their radars and other sensors.

“Electronic warfare is almost by definition one of the hardest things to discern on the battlefield,” Russian military analyst Michael Kofman told Task & Purpose. “It seems early on Russia was not well prepared to employ these capabilities, but now there are numerous stories of localized jamming and disabling of drones.”

Open source analysts such as Oryx Blog suggest the Ukrainians have destroyed several Russian jammers and deception systems, including the Krasukha mobile electronic warfare system, which is meant to jam drones and other weapons systems guided by radar, said Kofman, director of the Russia Studies Program at CNA, a federally funded research and development center.

However, the Russians have still been able to jam Ukraine’s military communications as well as the Global Positioning Receivers on the drones that the Ukrainians use as artillery spotters, the Associated Press recently reported.

“They are jamming everything their systems can reach,” an unnamed official with a civilian organization that provides the Ukrainian military with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance told the Associated Press. “We can’t say they dominate, but they hinder us greatly.”

By NC ScoutPublished On: June 10, 2022Categories: Uncategorized1 Comment

About the Author: NC Scout

NC Scout is the nom de guerre of a former Infantry Scout and Sergeant in one of the Army’s best Reconnaissance Units. He has combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He teaches a series of courses focusing on small unit skills rarely if ever taught anywhere else in the prepping and survival field, including his RTO Course which focuses on small unit communications. In his free time he is an avid hunter, bushcrafter, writer, long range shooter, prepper, amateur radio operator and Libertarian activist. He can be contacted at [email protected] or via his blog at brushbeater.wordpress.com .

One Comment

CPL Antero Rokka June 10, 2022 at 07:45

Folks–let’s be honest. You’ve got GENs and ADMs and a Pentagram searching for the “holy grail” of a decent pension from Uncle Sugar, but then a coveted slot at the Bds of Directors at various MIC. Spell “Ka-Ching!” Witness the current SECDEF. It has been the way the game is played and was warned against by a General of the Army, Dwight Davod Eisenhower in 1961.

So, is it any wonder that the US mil comms are not the absolute best in the world? Corruption, bribery, and waste on a colossal scale is the norm. Not good for reliable comms.

RUSS comms and EW far surpass that of NATO forces. AND–this is in a theatre where RUSS has deployed only its 2nd and 3rd stringers and equipment. Putin and Shoigu are keeping their “A Teams” in reserve for any NATO kerfuffle. And that will be epic should it get on.

EW? You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet, West Point and War College.

Maybe Xi Jo-Bi-Den can “borrow” some up-t-date Chi-Com EW set ups from Beijing that work.