Electronic warfare was born together with radioOn the eve of the Day of the EW Specialist, the author of these lines visited the electronic warfare regiment of the Black Sea Fleet, commanded by Colonel Sergei Trebuntsov.
– Sergey Anatolyevich, why is your professional holiday celebrated in mid-April?– On April 15, 1904, during the Russian-Japanese War, two Japanese armored cruisers "Nissin" and "Kasuga" went out to carry out "flip" shooting at forts and the inner raid of the fortress of Port Arthur.
Shooting with steep projectile trajectories in the absence of line of sight was called "shifting". Acting Commander of the Pacific Fleet, Rear Admiral Ukhtomsky reported:
"From the very beginning of the shooting, two enemy cruisers, having chosen positions against the passage of the Liaoteshan Cape, outside the shots of the fortress, began to telegraph. Why did the battleship Pobeda and the station of the Golden Mountain immediately begin to interrupt enemy telegrams with a big spark, believing that these cruisers inform the firing battleships about their projectile hits.
The enemy fired more than 60 large-caliber shells. There were no hits to the vessels."
The effectiveness of organized interference was also confirmed by the Japanese: "Since communication by wireless telegraph with our observing vessels was interrupted by the enemy by an observation station located on the south coast from the entrance to the shore, it was difficult to adjust the shooting, and the shells did not hit accurately enough."
This date became the starting point. By the way, only a year has passed since April 15, 1904, and already the awardees in this branch of military affairs began to appear: the radiotelegraph operator of the destroyer "Siberian Shooter" conductor Tit was awarded the St. George Cross for using radio noise "scored the enemy destroyer's report on the detection of the forces of the Russian fleet."
The tasks of electronic warfare at that time were solved quite simply. The radio stations used in both the Russian and Japanese fleets were approximately of the same type both in principle of operation and in construction: with spark transmitters, sometimes even of the same manufacturers. So the opportunity opened up to "score" messages with a "big spark" – a more powerful signal from its transmitter.
– What are EW specialists doing today?– Over the past years, this product of radio engineering has grown into an entire field in military affairs, concentrating all modern technologies for conducting operations: collecting and storing military information, including target designation, dumping information into space, on duty spacecraft, using homing objects of increased precision guidance, carrying out selective destruction of targets, techniques for creating active and passive interference.
In modern conditions, electronic warfare is strategically important for military operations and combat support of troops. It is also important in the system of complex defeat of the enemy, the protection of their own facilities and troops from the effects of precision weapons, plays an important role in the information confrontation. These are, one might say, intellectual troops.
EW is almost the same age as radio. The priority of Russia in the field of electronic warfare was respectfully confirmed by foreign experts.
Today, the re-equipment of electronic warfare troops with modern and promising equipment, which in many respects surpasses foreign analogues, is actively continuing.
We are obliged to do this by the modern threats of Russia, and the fighting during a special military operation (SVO), where we are confronted by a whole arsenal of samples of NATO equipment and weapons.
Many of our officers and contractors have combat experience of such confrontation and successful fulfillment of the tasks set during their own. Here is the protection of our facilities in Crimea and Sevastopol from drone strikes of various modifications, and the work of the operators of our stations and complexes "behind the ribbon".
– What forces and technical means does your regiment have?– The list of military equipment of the Russian EW troops is very solid.
These are several different electronic warfare complexes, several electronic suppression complexes, several types of jamming stations, an electronic intelligence complex, an aviation VHF jamming station.
There is a separate helicopter station of active interference, stations of powerful noise interference, a station of interference to radio detonators of ammunition. There is a complex of radio, radio engineering and special control of the effectiveness of information protection and assessment of the electromagnetic environment... I will not name specific names.
Our regiment is armed with all the necessary equipment to perform its tasks. But it is not enough to have such a technique to win. It is necessary to make the most of its capabilities, masterfully manage it, operate it competently and have combat experience using it.
– In other words, we are talking about the human factor.
–That's right. Look, drones are now widely used. They fly without people, but they are controlled by people... Many of our officers and contractors have combat experience.
The media has repeatedly reported on unsuccessful drone attacks that tried to damage our energy–important facilities, in particular the Balaklava thermal power plant, which supplies Sevastopol with electricity - the main base of the Black Sea Fleet. These attacks were unsuccessful thanks to our specialists. We managed to forcibly land several enemy drones, and our specialists had the opportunity to study enemy drones.
By the way, our electronic warfare specialists receive a reward of 50 thousand rubles for planted enemy drones.
The personnel of our regiment works throughout the Crimea, has significant combat and service experience. This is facilitated by an active and well-organized combat training system. An important role in its organization is played by my deputy Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Ovsyannikov, Assistant Chief of Staff of the regiment, Lieutenant Commander Maxim Kurochkin.
The development of standards for the deployment of stations and work on them is carried out by battalion and company commanders. I would like to mention the commander of the first battalion, Captain 2nd rank Alexey Manaenkov, his subordinate company commander, Lieutenant Kirill Ageev, commander of the Electronic warfare battalion (tactical) Captain 2nd rank Vladislav Smirnov, his deputy for the technical part, Major Alexander Akhmatov, commander of the electronic warfare company, Senior Lieutenant Mikhail Chaikin.
Vladimir PasyakinVladimir Mikhailovich Pasyakin is a retired captain of the 1st rank.
