The enemy (Russia) is making extensive use of radio-controlled unmanned aerial vehicles to strike our equipment and personnel, as well as to conduct reconnaissance and adjust artillery fire. In such conditions, electronic warfare (EW) systems are not \u201cadditional equipment,\u201d but one of the key tools for protecting a unit. Their role is straightforward: they disrupt the drone\u2019s control links, video transmission, and navigation. <\/p>\n\n
Radio-controlled drones are a daily threat<\/strong><\/p>\n\n On the battlefield, two types of threats are encountered most often. The first is strike FPV<\/strong> drones, which rapidly attack positions, vehicles, shelters, and logistics. The second is reconnaissance quadcopters<\/strong> (for example, DJI Mavic<\/strong>), which conduct surveillance, identify targets, and assist in artillery fire correction. Importantly, this is a mass-use<\/strong> weapon: drones are employed constantly, in large numbers, and across different sectors of the front. That is why counter-UAV measures must be systematic rather than occasional. <\/p>\n\n EW as a basic layer of unit protection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n In practice, most solutions used by military units are vehicle-mounted EW systems<\/a>, also referred to as dome EW systems<\/strong>. These are installed on pickup trucks, SUVs, or other platforms to provide protection during movement, evacuation, ammunition resupply, and operations at positions. In addition to vehicle-mounted systems, other application types include trench EW systems<\/a>, man-portable backpack EW systems<\/a><\/strong>, and handheld EW devices<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n What exactly EW does<\/strong><\/p>\n\n EW affects the drone\u2019s \u201cnervous system\u201d \u2014 its communications. Depending on the model and mission, the drone\u2019s critical links include: <\/p>\n\n When these channels degrade or are disrupted, it becomes harder for the operator to maintain control of the drone, guide it onto the target, and complete the attack. Even a brief loss of signal reduces accuracy and often causes a strike or reconnaissance mission to fail. <\/p>\n\n Why this directly saves lives<\/strong><\/p>\n\n EW does not guarantee absolute protection, but it significantly reduces the probability of being hit \u2014 and that is critical in a drone war.<\/p>\n\n Fiber-optic drones:<\/strong> an important clarification<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Fiber-optic drones cannot be stopped by radio jamming, because their control link is not transmitted through the air, but through a fiber-optic cable. However, they are not used as frequently as conventional radio-controlled UAVs and have not fully replaced them. Therefore, EW remains relevant and necessary \u2014 the majority of threats in many sectors still depend on radio channels. <\/p>\n\n A condition for effectiveness: cover all known channels in the sector<\/strong><\/p>\n\n For EW to work effectively, the system must suppress all known channels<\/strong> used by the enemy in your specific sector. If only part of them is covered, the enemy can bypass the protection by switching to other frequencies or operating modes. In practice, this means EW must be configured for the real operational environment, not used in a \u201cuniversal\u201d manner without regard to place and time. <\/p>\n\n Why coordination with electronic intelligence is necessary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The electromagnetic environment changes constantly: the enemy adapts, changes FPV control frequencies, settings, and methods of data transmission. That is why effective EW employment requires coordination with signals intelligence \/ electronic intelligence (SIGINT\/ELINT)<\/strong> regarding current frequencies and typical channels in the specific sector. This turns EW into a precise countermeasure tool rather than a formal \u201cswitch it on and hope for the best\u201d approach. Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n EW is critically important for the military because most enemy drones rely on radio channels. It disrupts control, reduces the accuracy and effectiveness of attacks and reconnaissance, and directly lowers losses. Maximum effect is achieved through two factors: full suppression of all known channels in the sector<\/strong>, and continuous verification of frequencies and operating modes together with electronic intelligence<\/strong>. Therefore, it is essential to support military units on a regular basis and to ensure that existing EW systems remain up to date and fully operational. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The enemy (Russia) is making extensive use of radio-controlled unmanned aerial vehicles to strike our equipment and personnel, as well as to conduct reconnaissance and adjust artillery fire. In such […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2752,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[130],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-and-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zavada.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zavada.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zavada.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zavada.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zavada.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2817"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zavada.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2818,"href":"https:\/\/zavada.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2817\/revisions\/2818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zavada.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zavada.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zavada.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zavada.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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