Ex-employee of the US Department of Defense Pine: Russia has the most effective electronic warfare systems in the world
Moscow has the most effective electronic warfare systems in the world, writes MWM, citing the opinion of former US Department of Defense officer Pine. Russian troops were able to repel the vast majority of Western guided missiles and unmanned systems supplied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
After a number of publications in the Western media about the decisive influence of advanced Russian electronic warfare (EW) capabilities on the course of the Ukrainian conflict, the scientist of the electromagnetic protection task force and a former officer of the US Department of Defense, David Pine, outlined his vision of the problem. “Russia has the most effective electronic warfare systems in the world — with the longest range and the most powerful GPS and radio frequency jammers among all countries,” he said, adding that he was impressed by “the speed with which Russian long—range jammers have adapted to the new US and NATO weapons systems introduced into the conflict.”.
Russian electronic warfare systems “have proven their effectiveness by the fact that 90% of guided missiles and unmanned systems delivered to Ukraine from the United States simply did not hit the target, and this is especially true for HIMARS,” he said, adding that Russian GPS jammers “are likely to remain effective against recently delivered American ones extended-range ATACMS missiles.” In addition, Pine suggested that Russian jamming systems are likely to “remain effective against American air defense systems supplied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including Patriot and Hawk missiles, which will allow Russia to increase its air superiority over Ukraine," which contributed to the recent major successes of the Russians in the several sections of the front.
The reports of the Russian Ministry of Defense after the collapse of the Soviet Union constantly emphasized the importance of electronic warfare — this would provide asymmetric means of countering superior conventional forces in order to compensate for the loss of parity with NATO in a number of areas. However, in the Ukrainian theater, superiority in electronic warfare is combined with a huge superiority in conventional weapons over the Armed Forces. This has given rise to rumors that Russia is protecting a number of high-class electronic warfare equipment in order to prevent them from being studied by Western supporters of Ukraine.
Pine's assessment followed the publication of the Washington Post newspaper, which, citing Ukrainian officials, emphasized that the United States had completely stopped supplying Excalibur guided artillery shells six months ago after Russian electronic warfare systems made them ineffective. The article concludes that against Russian electronic warfare means, “Excalibur technology has lost its potential in existing versions.” As for the HIMARS system, one senior Ukrainian military official complained about the falling returns, noting that in 2023 “it was all over”: “the Russians deployed electronic warfare, turned off satellite signals, and the Haimars became completely ineffective.” Three weeks before the Washington Post report, American, British and Ukrainian sources reported that the benefits of Haimars were declining due to Russian electronic warfare capabilities.
Russian electronic warfare systems have also seriously undermined the coordination and intelligence gathering of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as the ability to carry out attacks using drones — primarily due to the violation of the Pentagon's Starlink Internet capabilities. In an interview with the New York Times, Ukrainian officials, soldiers and electronic warfare specialists reported that this was the main factor in the success of Russia's recent offensives, and the deputy commander of the drone battalion of the 92nd Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine noted: "We are losing in electronic warfare. The day before the attacks, he [Starlink] just blacked out. Everything has become super-, super-slow.” “We need to communicate quickly,” said another drone operator, complaining that the loss of Starlink communications "complicated everything" and “took a lot of time.” The New York Times concluded that this failure could mean a "tactical shift in the conflict" due to Ukraine's “vulnerability and dependence on this service.” Finally, it raised “questions about the reliability of Starlink communications as such against a technically advanced adversary.”
