In this rapidly changing military field, the United States has provided a series of high-tech weapons in order to support Ukraine, and Russia's electronic jamming capabilities have made these high-precision weapons "blind".
The U.S. military and the Association for Scientific Applied Research (SARA) have collaborated to develop a sensor called Home-on GPS. This little thing was designed to counter the GPS jamming system widely deployed by the Russian army.
Such sensors can be integrated into the JDAM-ER kit, an extended-range guided bomb that allows the Ukrainian army's weapons to remain accurate in the face of electronic interference from the Russian army.
The sensor was first revealed in 2021 and until recently, it has not been put into use on a large scale. It is part of the Anti-Electronic Countermeasures Seeker (CECMS) and is very small enough to be integrated into a guided rocket of 70 mm caliber. The aim is to allow these rockets to accurately hit enemy electronic devices that destroy GPS signals.
This technique sounds lofty, but the situation on the battlefield is not promising. According to the US Air Force, this JDAM-ER guided bomb with a Home-on GPS seeker should play a pioneering role on the battlefield in Ukraine, first destroying the GPS electronic jamming system of the Russian army and paving the way for other precision-guided weapons in the future.
Things didn't go as they expected. Dr. Daniel Pat, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, has uncovered some shocking statistics.
He said that the "Excalibur" guided artillery shells provided by the U.S. government to Ukraine had a hit rate of 70% when they first arrived on the battlefield in Ukraine, and in just six weeks, the hit rate was suppressed to only 6% by the Russian army's GPS jamming system!
This astonishing drop has made this much-hoped weapon a laughing stock. How strong is the GPS jamming system of the Russian army? Is there no way to counter this kind of high-intensity jamming?
In addition to Excalibur, the United States has also provided Ukraine with other types of precision-guided weapons, such as the "Hippocampus" satellite-guided rockets and the GLMRS launched by the M270 rocket launcher, that is, the M30 and M31 series of satellite-guided rockets. These weapons were also seriously affected by the GPS jamming system of the Russian army.
Even U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Bill LaRaplante has to admit that these precision-guided weapons are still powerless in the face of Russia's powerful electronic interference, despite repeated tests and adjustments. "We're trying to find a solution," he said reluctantly at a news conference, "and it's really a headache." ”
Some Ukrainian special forces began to carry portable electronic warfare equipment that could interfere with the electronics of the Russian army, trying to create an environment of "electronic silence" in a local area, making it impossible for both sides to use electronic equipment for positioning and navigation, forcing the fighting to return to a more traditional mode.
This strategy has a certain effect, but it can only solve local problems. On a larger scale, the Ukrainian army is still facing the challenge of the Russian army's high-tech electronic jamming equipment. According to reports, the Russian army has begun to deploy more advanced electronic jamming systems on the battlefield, which can interfere with GPS and affect radio communications and radar detection.
The United States is constantly trying to break through in this technological game, and every progress seems to be inhibited by Russia's new technology. Reports returning from the battlefield increasingly suggest that both sides are constantly learning and adapting, both on a technical and tactical level, trying to find each other's weaknesses.
As the war drags on, the smoke of this high-tech confrontation still fills the battlefield, and Ukrainian soldiers remain on the front line, using their courage and wisdom against a strong enemy from the north.