Russian jamming technology partially renders state-of-the-art US weapons ineffective in Ukraine. That’s why Ukrainian officials are calling for urgent adjustments and highlighting the challenges of modern warfare.
According to confidential Ukrainian assessments obtained by the Washington Post, many US-made satellite-guided munitions in Ukraine have lost their effectiveness because they cannot withstand Russian jamming technology. This led the Ukrainian army to stop using certain Western weapons because their effectiveness had drastically decreased. Senior Ukrainian military officials and confidential reports showed that the disruption of the guidance systems of modern Western weapons, such as the GPS-guided Excalibur artillery shells and the HIMARS artillery rocket system, has severely impaired Ukraine’s defense capability. Kiev is therefore urgently seeking the Pentagon’s help to obtain upgrades from weapons manufacturers.
Russia’s ability to combat these advanced munitions has far-reaching consequences for Ukraine and its Western supporters and could be a game-changer for adversaries such as China and Iran. This is a key reason why the Russian armed forces have regained the initiative on the battlefield. The hit rate of the Excalibur grenades developed by the USA fell to less than ten percent within a few months before the Ukrainian army gave up on them last year.
While previous reports had described Russia’s superior electronic warfare capabilities, the documents obtained by The Washington Post revealed previously unknown details about the extent to which Russian jamming efforts have thwarted Western weapons. “The Excalibur technology in existing versions has lost its potential,” the assessments said, and battlefield experience in Ukraine had refuted its reputation as a “one shot, one target” weapon – at least until that Pentagon and the US manufacturers could solve the problem. Six months ago, Washington stopped supplying Excalibur shells after the Ukrainians reported the problem due to the high failure rate.
Ukrainian officials also reported frustration that an overly bureaucratic process had made it difficult to make urgently needed adjustments to improve the faulty weapons. The US Defense Department, however, rejected these allegations. The Pentagon and weapons manufacturers sometimes found solutions within hours or days, the official said, but did not give any examples.