While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a story full of dramatic failures, there are also things that have worked in the Russian offensive. A force that Kyiv must properly analyze in order to adopt an adequate defense. In particular, Moscow has so far achieved success in electronic warfare, Inside Over writes.

After the Russian military deployed its jamming infrastructure, there was no shortage of results. As Forbes noted, Kremlin forces soon began jamming Ukrainian complex systems, primarily drones. Well, the electronic suppression of Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) reduced one of the biggest advantages that Kyiv had counted on in the first months of the war.

“What we have seen in Ukraine is an almost continuous series of attacks since February. We have seen these attacks on government services, on critical infrastructure, on military command and control structures, as well as on the normal Internet and Internet communications,” explained David Cuttler, NATO Under-Secretary General for Intelligence and Security, during a discussion with a small group foreign journalists, including a HotNews.ro correspondent, who took part in the NATO Cyber ​​​​​​Coalition 2022 exercises held in Tallinn, Estonia.

Photo: NATO soldiers at the Cyber ​​Coalition 2022 exercise / Source: NATO

Russian artillery saved by electronic jamming

Thanks to their drones, the Ukrainians had effective reconnaissance capabilities that far surpassed their competitors. And in fact, it allowed the Ukrainian military to repeatedly surprise the enemy’s forces, making its own artillery arsenal more accurate than the much larger Russian arsenal.

Specifically, Moscow’s electronic warfare prevented Kyiv’s drones from communicating properly and destroyed Ukraine’s accuracy. This saved the Russians from annihilation when, after overcoming the initial wave of attack, Ukrainian troops fought back with significant support from the Western bloc.

Last February, Kyiv controlled thousands of drones; by summer, according to RUSA analysts, 90% of them had been knocked down or destroyed. The consequences of this are easy to see: without drones, Ukrainian fire became increasingly inaccurate, buying time for Russian troops.

How Russian electronic warfare worked at the beginning of the invasion

It is no coincidence that by February 24, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which had been monitoring Moscow’s military build-up, had observed the deployment of a large number of electronic warfare systems in and around eastern Ukraine. Donbas under Russian control.

What systems does Russia use?

Radio-electronic jamming in an improved composition is carried out by the RB-301B “Borysoglibsk-2” type complex, created for radio reconnaissance and jamming on high and ultra-high frequency waves, used at ground and air levels. They were in the Southern Military District of the Russian Federation and have been identified since 2015 in Luhansk, reports EVZ.ro.

Similarly, in 2015, near Luhansk, the R-934UM automatic jamming station was identified together with the F-330KMA control system.

Among the means detected and used by Russia in Ukraine are the “Torn” and SB-636 “Svet-KU” systems, capable of detecting Ukrainian units by tracking their radio signals, the RB-341B “Leer-3″, which combines drones ” Orlan-10″ and radio. jammers R-934B Sinytsia and Zhytel R-330Zh, which are assigned the task of jamming satellite communication lines.

Photo: test systems at the CR14 cyber training ground in Tallinn, Estonia / Source: HotNews.ro

Effective to a certain extent

Russian electronic jammers did not work properly in the first weeks of the conflict, and this was because Kremlin forces attacked and withdrew too early for the jamming systems to catch up with them

Although Russia was successful in jamming Ukrainian aviation radars and communications, the disruptions soon became a problem for Russian forces, who initially faced difficulties communicating information on the battlefield, according to a report by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank.

By the end of the first week after the invasion, Russian ground forces were no longer able to communicate effectively, which “became a greater threat to the Russian operation than anti-aircraft missile systems”, so they began to sharply reduce such attacks. after the first two days, according to the RUSI report, Adevărul reports.

“During the first week of the invasion, Russian electronic warfare using jammers and E-96M decoys was very effective in destroying” Ukraine’s ground-based air defense systems, the RUSI report said.

Russian jammers seriously disrupted the Ukrainian S-300 and SA-11 missile batteries north of Kyiv. At the same time, Russia launched large-scale strikes with ballistic and cruise missiles against Ukraine’s long-range radars and air defense batteries.

As a result, Ukraine’s ground-based air defenses were so damaged that its outnumbered fleet of MiG-29 and Su-27 fighters was forced to assume primary responsibility for protecting its airspace.

Starting in April, Ukrainian fighter pilots began to feel the consequences of Russian jamming, for example, their navigation equipment was silenced and their radars were disabled.

“The means of radio-electronic warfare, which were initially very effective in degrading Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile systems (SAMS), also caused serious problems of electronic fratricide and, thus, increased to a critical level the disruption of communication between units of the Russian ground forces,” the message says. RUSSIAN

On the same topic:

• The invisible war unleashed by Russia, which surprised NATO: “This is a territory that favors the attacker” / How allies respond and what key role Romania plays

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