The Invisible Russia-Ukraine Battlefield

Russia’s systems were “not precise mobile, not precise distributed,” Clark tells WIRED. Their comparatively tiny fig of large systems, Clark says, “weren’t truly applicable successful the fight.”

Moscow’s strategy assumed determination would beryllium a comparatively static battlespace. Along the front, they would deploy the Infauna, a heavy armored conveyance that targets vigor communications. Further out, astir 15 miles from the beforehand lines, they would nonstop the Leer-3, a six-wheeled motortruck susceptible of not lone jamming cellular networks but of intercepting communications and adjacent relaying SMS to adjacent compartment phones. Even further out, from a scope of astir 180 miles, the fire-truck-sized Krasukha-4 would scramble aerial sensors.

“When you get adjacent to the front, you get physics weather,” Clark says. “Your GPS won’t work, your compartment telephone won’t work, your Starlink won’t work.”

This electromagnetic no-man’s-land is what happens erstwhile you “barrage,” Clark explains. But there’s a large trade-off, helium says. Jamming crossed the spectrum requires much power, arsenic does jamming successful a wider geographic area. The much powerfulness a strategy has, the bigger it indispensable be. So you tin disrupt each communications successful a targeted area, oregon immoderate communications further afield—but not needfully both.

Move Fast and Jam Things

Russia’s subject was marred, aboriginal successful the war, by atrocious communication, worse planning, and a wide sluggishness successful adapting. Even still, it had a large caput start. “Unfortunately, the force has a numerical and worldly advantage,” a typical for UP Innovations, a Ukrainian defence tech startup, tells WIRED successful a written statement.

So Ukraine developed 2 complementary strategies: nutrient a ample measurement of cheaper EW solutions, and marque them iterative and adaptable.

Ukraine’s Bukovel-AD anti-drone system, for example, fits comfortably connected the backmost of a pickup truck. The Eter system, the size of a suitcase, tin observe the jamming signals from Russian EW systems—allowing Ukraine to people them with artillery. Ukrainian physics warfare institution Kvertus present manufactures 15 antithetic anti-drone systems—from drone-jamming backpacks to stationary devices that tin beryllium installed connected vigor towers to ward disconnected incoming UAVs.

When the full-scale warfare began successful 2022, Kvertus had 1 product: a shoulder-mounted anti-drone gun, similar the EDM4S. “In 2022, [we were producing] tens of devices,” Yaroslav Filimonov, Kvertus’ CEO told maine erstwhile we sat down successful his Kyiv offices this March. “In 2023 it was hundreds. Now? It’s thousands.”