All articles tagged with #electronic warfare
Balikatan 2026 in the Philippines brought 17,000+ US and allied troops for a large-scale Pacific defense drill, testing long-range missiles (including Tomahawk launches from the Typhon system), drones, counter-invasion tactics, and electronic warfare to defend beaches and deny sea access, while showcasing interoperability and drone-resilience concepts like 3D-printed parts.
Ukraine plans to deploy 25,000 unmanned ground robots by early 2026, but their battlefield effectiveness depends on robust and resilient communications. A brief loss of the control link can halt or destabilize a robot, especially in urban terrain and under electronic warfare, so developers are pursuing signal relays, multi-channel links, and autonomous modes to keep frontline robots operating.
Space Force Chief Gen. Chance Saltzman says the Iran war proved the service is combat-credible, with space-based effects and electronic warfare enabling mission success; Guardians led high-tempo space EW during Operation Epic Fury, relocated combat EW systems under fire, and tracked personnel—demonstrating space power as critical to the conflict’s outcomes.
Public CCTV footage shows the PLA Navy’s Type 055 destroyer Yanan moving from radar tracking to electronic countermeasures near Taiwan, including four jamming missiles, in a display framed as a warning rather than direct engagement; the sequence also shows carrier-group activity and another destroyer near the Liaoning, with officials not confirming the aircraft’s origin.
Ukrainian soldiers disable unjammable fiber-optic drones by severing their control cables with scissors, knives, or bare hands, treating any drone as hostile; if cables stay intact, drones are stopped by shooting; the approach shows how low-tech fixes counter advanced tech on the battlefield.
China’s CCTV footage shows the Yanan, a Type 055 destroyer, using electronic countermeasures and high-power radar to disrupt foreign aircraft near Taiwan, with support from the aircraft carrier Shandong and concurrent actions by the Nanchang, illustrating Beijing’s integrated air‑sea‑electronics warfare approach as regional tensions rise amid US arms sales to Taiwan and Japan‑China friction.
Ukraine's Brave1 defense cluster has completed testing of new kamikaze drones capable of over 40 km range and resistant to Russian electronic warfare, aiming to enhance Ukraine's strike capabilities behind Russian lines amid ongoing conflict. The drones are designed to overcome jamming and spoofing, and could significantly impact Ukraine's military operations if deployed successfully.
NATO faced a significant drone incursion into Polish airspace, with 19 violations detected, possibly deliberate, highlighting vulnerabilities in drone defense and the evolving nature of drone warfare involving Russia and Ukraine. NATO responded with fighter jets and missile systems, but experts warn that current defenses are not fully equipped to handle small, cheap drones, emphasizing the need for new techniques and infrastructure like a drone wall.
Russia is suspected of jamming GPS signals on a plane carrying EU President Ursula von der Leyen over Bulgaria, causing a delay, amid increasing reports of deliberate electronic interference by Russia targeting aircraft and navigation systems in the region, as part of broader hybrid threats and geopolitical tensions.
Cheap FPV drones, while innovative, face significant limitations such as fragility, susceptibility to electronic warfare, limited range, and weather dependence, making them less effective as a primary airpower asset compared to traditional military equipment like bombers or mortars. Despite some successes, their slow response time and operational constraints suggest they are more suited as supplementary tools rather than replacements for conventional forces, though ongoing technological advances may improve their future role.
Senior Lieutenant Ihor Shutyi describes how Ukraine's electronic warfare systems are struggling to keep up with rapidly evolving Russian and commercial drone technologies, especially fiber-optic FPV drones, which are rendering traditional jamming methods obsolete. The article highlights the shift in drone warfare tactics, the limitations of current EW systems, and the potential future strategies to counter advanced drones, emphasizing the importance of targeting enemy reconnaissance to blind their operations.
The US has stopped sending Excalibur guided artillery shells to Ukraine due to high failure rates caused by Russian jamming, which significantly reduced their effectiveness. The cost of these shells has risen to $100,000 each, and their success rate dropped to as low as 6% in recent months. Russian electronic warfare has also impacted other US-supplied weapons like HIMARS and glide bombs, leading to calls for the US to improve its electronic warfare capabilities.
Some U.S. precision-guided weapons supplied to Ukraine have become ineffective due to Russian electronic jamming, leading to battlefield setbacks and prompting Ukrainian forces to stop using them. The Excalibur artillery shell and Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb are specifically affected, highlighting the challenges of deploying advanced weaponry against a high-tech adversary like Russia.
US-supplied HIMARS rocket launchers and other advanced weaponry have been rendered ineffective due to superior Russian electronic jamming technology, causing significant targeting issues for Ukraine. This has forced Ukraine to scale back the use of these systems, highlighting a growing gap in electronic warfare capabilities between the US and Russia.
Russian jamming has significantly reduced the effectiveness of high-tech US weapons in Ukraine, with the success rate of Excalibur GPS-guided artillery shells dropping to less than 10%. This has led Ukraine to stop using certain Western weapons and seek urgent upgrades from the Pentagon. The dense web of Russian electronic warfare systems has also compromised other advanced weapons like HIMARS and the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB), highlighting the challenges of modern warfare against a technologically capable adversary.