The tactical advantages that various U.S. precision munitions brought to Ukraine have been eroded by enemy jamming, the U.S. Army commander in charge of those efforts said Tuesday.
Jamming of some of “our more precise capabilities is a challenge,” said Lt. Gen. Antonio Aguto, speaking via video link from Europe at an event organized by the Army’s Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications-Tactical.
Since December 2022, Aguto has led Security Assistance Group-Ukraine, the umbrella organization for coordinating allied military aid to Ukraine.
Unidentified U.S. defense officials previously told CNN that Russia was jamming U.S.-provided precision missiles, causing them to go astray. U.S. and Ukrainian forces consequently had to create workarounds, such as modifying the rocket launchers. Russia then modified its jamming, forcing the U.S. to again find counter-measures.
Such weapons, such as the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, once provided Ukraine with a key advantage on the battlefield by pushing Russian ammunition depots back beyond their range.
Leaked U.S. documents also stated that Russia was jamming GPS-guided bombs that the U.S. had given to Ukraine.
Russia fields many advanced jamming capabilities, including some jammers that can block GPS signals at ranges of up to 15 miles. Ukrainian soldiers have reported that Russian jammers frequently down their drones, and may also be behind problems with using the widely used Starlink satellite internet system.
Aguto said the Pentagon needs to improve its arms and gear to be “resilient enough and flexible enough to be able to counter what our adversaries do...Within weeks or months of us employing something on the battlefield, our adversaries can find ways to either disrupt or counter some of these capabilities.”
The U.S. should also improve communications between allies, Aguto added, including sharing information on everything from logistics to battlefield data.
Aguto said the battlefield intelligence sharing system Maven is being used to plan logistics for supporting Ukraine, and said AI tools might further speed the planning process.
As the U.S. has shipped billions of dollars worth of equipment and weapons to Ukraine, it has managed to speed up the process as much as 30 percent.
Echoing the U.S. Army’s current push to reduce the size of command posts, Aguto also said Army command post technology needed to be “mobile and much smaller,” while still providing the same capabilities.
Both Russia and Ukraine have hit clusters of troops far behind the front lines using precision guided weapons, with Ukraine killing as many as 12 Russian generals through various means.
Article originally published on Defense One, available at https://www.defenseone.com/defense-systems/2023/12/russia-jamming-us-precision-weapons-ukraine-us-general-says/392707/