Exploiting Gaps: Russia and Electronic Warfare

In an article I wrote on FO about Russia’s EW Capabilities, I showed how NATO commanders were concerned about how far ahead Russia was in this department. That concern has not diminished, and for good reason as the article below shows. -SF

 

Much has been written about the weakness of the Russian military. Commentators describe it as a“paper tiger” that would not be effective against the more advanced weaponry of NATO. Even Pres. Barack Obama boasts that the American military is superior to Russia’s.

When it comes to traditional conventional weapons there is much truth to these assertions. However, these claims of Washington’s military superiority overlook a key fact. In the event of a war, Moscow possesses some critical asymmetrical advantages vis-à-vis the United States that the Kremlin would surely seek to exploit.

Russia’s electronic warfare strategy in Ukraine is one example of this. According to a recent articlein Foreign Policy, after Russian electronic warfare equipment began arriving in Ukraine, Ukrainian troops noticed a problem — their phones and radios were unusable for hours at a time, essentially cutting off units’ ability to communicate with each other.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe also felt the effect of Russia’s electronic warfare capabilities. On at least three separate occasions the OSCE reported its monitoring drones were subjected to military-grade electronic warfare while flying over territory controlled by the Russian-supported separatists. In each case, they were rendered blind and forced to end their missions.

Russia’s use of electronic warfare in Ukraine represents just the tip of the iceberg.

• In Syria, Russia’s Krasukha-4 — a jamming system mounted on a simple four axle military truck — shields Russian forces from NATO spying, and is reportedly able to neutralize the United States’ low-earth orbit (LEO) spy satellites.
• Russia’s Richag-AV radar jamming system fits on helicopters, ships and other military equipment and is reportedly capable of jamming an adversary’s advanced weapons systems as far as several hundred kilometers away.
• Russia is also developing a new electronic warfare system which it claims could disable American cruise missiles and other advanced precision guided weaponry employed by the U.S. military.

Russia’s advanced electronic warfare capabilities elucidates a broader point. The U.S. military’s superiority depends on advanced communications and electronics, yet these expensive advanced systems are highly susceptible to Russia’s advanced jamming abilities.

Read the Remainder at War is Boring