A shield of electromagnetic pulses along the front lines provides troops with crucial protection to thwart Kyiv’s missile and drone attacks

Joe Barnes

27 December 2023

At first, Ukraine noticed its GPS-guided 155mm Excalibur artillery shells suddenly started veering off target.

Then rockets fired with Himars, which Kyiv once boasted had “scalpel-like” accuracy, began missing their targets. In some areas, they almost always missed.

The same happened to JDAM guided bombs supplied to Ukraine’s air force by the United States.

Frantic investigation eventually discovered they had all fallen victim to a new threat – Russian jamming. Moscow has quietly developed a knack for taking out some of Ukraine’s most prized missiles and rockets.

It is a rare but crucial example of Russian technological advantage in a war that has been slowly tipping in Moscow’s favour.

Along almost the entirety of the front lines, an invisible wall of electromagnetic pulses now stretches like a shield.

An elaborate network of radio, infrared and radar signals hurled into the skies over the battlefield provides Russian forces with unprecedented protections in some areas.

‘Their electronic warfare is better than ours’

And it’s not just Ukrainian missiles that are now failing to reach their targets. Perhaps more significant is Russia’s ability to counter the array of cheap, sometimes off-the-shelf, drones upon which Ukraine has become reliant for reconnaissance and long-range strikes.

Ukrainians know they are now at a disadvantage.

One front-line soldier, whose 120mm mortar unit regularly uses Chinese-made Mavic drones to spot targets, told The Telegraph: “They’ve always had good electronic warfare since the start of the full-scale invasion. But now it is better than us.”

Another person with knowledge of the front lines said: “It’s getting pretty intensive but nothing high-tech, just the same Russian stuff – power in quantity not quality.”

“It remains a major problem along the front,” Andrey Liscovich, of the Ukraine Defence Fund, recently told the Geopolitics Decanted podcast.

He explained Ukrainian forces are in a “continual game of cat and mouse” with their Russian enemy as they jostle for control of the airwaves.

The radio frequencies used to fly both first-person view attack drones and spotter UAV are “getting jammed quite comprehensively”.

Devices deployed by the Russians either scramble their guidance systems or simply sever the radio-control links with their operators.

Some drones crash to the floor without hitting their targets, while others hover uncontrolled in the air until their batteries run out.

Truck-mounted Shipovnik-Aero ‘especially effective’

A report by Royal United Services Institute, the defence and security think tank, suggests Russia has deployed one major electronic warfare system every six miles along the front line.

The truck-mounted Shipovnik-Aero is said to have proved especially effective against Ukrainian drones.

With a range of six miles, it can block drones and also acquire the coordinates of the pilot’s location, within one metre, in order to direct retaliatory artillery fire.

On parts of the front lines not covered by the more sophisticated systems, Russian soldiers use smaller, trench-based devices.

The battery-powered systems have ranges between 50 and 100 metres, and are not often switched on 24 hours a day to conserve power.

In these areas, it is often easier to hit targets because the machines are either not in operation or the drones get close enough for losing signal.

But in the zones more densely covered by electronic warfare jammers, Ukrainian soldiers are taking more and more precautions before launching their precious drones.

They deploy to the front line using spectrum analysers to work out which frequencies are being jammed nearby.

The main counter-measure is reprogramming drones, which is not simple when they have been purchased off the shelf or constructed using readily available commercial parts.

Often analogue signals are favoured over digital because the results are closer to a degradation of the video feed rather than a full blackout.

Another tactic is to send a swarm of drones, as not every frequency can be blocked at the same time.

More sophisticated counter-measures, which are used by Nato countries, are largely seen as out of Ukraine’s reach.

The US has an export ban on the transfer of electronic warfare devices that is policed by the State Department because of fears its technologies will fall into enemy hands.

And then there is the cost, which would force Kyiv’s military to fight in an entirely different fashion, according to Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former Nato commander.

Western counter-measures cost millions

Systems used by Western militaries cost thousands, while Ukrainian drone manufacturers aim to keep their units as cheap as possible, forcing them to piggyback on consumer technologies.

Reports suggest that FPV drones costing as little as $260 have been used by Ukraine to take out Russian tanks.

Meanwhile, the Watchkeeper UAV operated by the British military costs millions of pounds but features in-built electronic warfare countermeasures.

“It’s a dilemma, and only the Ukrainians will answer whether it is better that they lose 50 per cent of their $500 drones or go for the next step, which are very much more expensive, to counter that,” Mr de Bretton-Gordon said.

Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, this week announced that it would seek to manufacture a million drones for its war efforts.

“Quantity has a quality all of its own,” Mr de Bretton-Gordon added. “Even if they lose half of those through electronic counter-measures, they are still going to have a huge impact.”

Technology is at the top of the Ukrainian military’s shopping list, with the country’s top general warning that if its forces do not get new kit, Russia will be able to “turn any city into another Bakhmut in a matter of months”.

………..

Comment from Scott Driver:

“I worked in electronic countermeasures (ECM) for the US Air Force, so I can confirm what this author writes. The West has very sophisticated ECM that can screw with Orc weapons, but the concern is letting these very expensive systems fall into enemy hands.

Quantity of drones is a weapon in and of itself since the Orcs can’t completely jam a swarm of drones. At the same time, the Ukrainian military needs to get far more Ukrainian government funds for drones instead of relying mostly upon individual army units having to use crowd-sourced drone funding. Less money used for Ukrainian government salaries including retirement funds and more used for the military would be a nice start.”

al850n:

“Another example of how drip feeding weapons by the West on a “just-too-late” basis is killing Ukrainians and their hopes of success against Russia. In virology terms, it’s like vaccinating 5% of the population and waiting for successful mutations before spiking the next group.”

Percy Blakeney:

“Elsewhere, it’s reported that Ukraine is geared up to produce 1 million drones in 2024. That should keep Russia alert – especially as the new Ukraine drones are technically superior to anything Russia has been producing or buying from Iran.”

Jaap Marais:

“I used to work in frequency hopping and direct sequence spread spectrum radio systems. These are relatively cheap and should solve the jamming issue. Should be able to retrofit to drones. Technology is about twenty years old and therefore not embargoed or top secret. The company I worked for was acquired by Saab and should be helpful. I should add we beat Russian forces with superior aircraft to a standstill in Angola because our EW was much better. Any Ukrainians reading can research Grinaker Systems Technologies Pretoria.”

Robert Cummins:

“My heart sinks each time the DT’s Brussels Corespondent posts his latest insight on the UA-RU war – that and when he says “sort of” in every other sentence of podcasts…

The war (if a war can ever said to tip) has NOT been “slowly tipping in Russia’s favour”. The scales have surely been tipped in Russia’s favour from the start, and surely that’s the key reason why Western powers have continued (weakly) to back the Ukrainians, whose astonishing resistance remains the determining factor… And yes, the pendulum of tactical and technological advantage might continue to swing back & forth… so please spare us the simplistic stuff about Russia being on the verge of “tipping” anything, apart from their own men & materiel into a cesspit of their own construction.”

Lily Blue:

“It’s an electronics niche they have occupied for a while.

Probably nothing to do with the army but they benefit.

I’d expect western counter measures to be effective but Ukraine has limited access to the ‘secret sauce’ in a whole range of gear.

If the west is serious about beating Russia some of this stuff is going to have to appear in the Ukrainian inventory next year.”

Aj Arn:

“The idea that Allied “War Weariness” will cause War-Criminal Putin to win is specious.

About 50% of Germans have been AGAINST supporting Ukraine from 2020. About 40% of the French ditto.

Berlin still refuses to supply Storm Shadow- (aka Taurus) style Cruise missiles. Paris refuses to supply Main Battle Tanks. Biden always intended that US MBTs would not arrive in time for the Counter-Offensive.

That’s thinly-disguised Sabotage, not War-Weariness.

Putin has surely bribed or otherwise bought-off Ukraine’s Pretend-Supporters, just as with Georgia….?”