Special report | Electronic warfare
The latest in the battle of jamming with electronic beams
Jamming is knocking drones and missiles out of the sky
WHEN UKRAINIAN gunners began firing Excalibur precision-guided shells early in the war they were cock-a-hoop. Ordinary shells required many rounds to hit their targets, even if you knew precisely what you were aiming at. Excalibur, guided by GPS, appeared to be a silver bullet: one shot, one strike. But in March 2023 something changed. Excalibur shells began falling out of the sky or failing to destroy their targets. And not just one: weeks went by without registering a successful hit. It was an unsettling reminder of how the electronic war in Ukraine has profoundly affected the visible one.
This article appeared in the Special report section of the print edition under the headline “The new battle of the beams”