ELLIE COOK
Russia is significantly ahead of Ukraine in using drone-jamming electronic warfare technology, Kyiv's military said, as unmanned vehicles adopt an ever-higher profile in the ongoing conflict.
Moscow is "far ahead" of Kyiv in the deployment of electronic-jamming equipment to intercept incoming drone attacks, Ukrainian air force spokesperson Colonel Yuriy Ignat told Ukraine's telethon news service, in comments reported by Strana.
With electronic jamming, drones do not "need to be shot down by anti-aircraft missiles or anti-aircraft guns," Ignat said. "You can just force it to land, intercept it with electronic warfare."
A Ukrainian drone operator lands his drone after a surveillance flight on July 16, 2023 near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. Moscow is "far ahead" of Kyiv in the deployment of electronic-jamming equipment to intercept incoming drone attacks, Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yuriy Ignat told telethon, in comments reported by Strana.
The fast pace of drone development has dominated coverage of the Ukraine war. The technology has progressed at "lightning" speed, U.K.-based drone expert Steve Wright previously told Newsweek, adding that counter-drone systems are maturing along with the unmanned vehicles themselves.
Russia has said it has used electronic jamming to take down drones in attacks on Moscow, which it blamed squarely on Kyiv. Experts say Ukraine has made effective use of anti-drone guns, including large-caliber weapons, and expensive air-defense systems, but that is hard to sustain against swarms of unmanned vehicles.
"Russia today has powerful systems that interfere with the work of our defense forces," Ignat said, adding: "They have enough of these systems."
"Ukraine has made progress in electronic warfare, but we started late, we should have developed earlier," he continued.
The Kremlin has accused Kyiv of attacking the Russian capital and the annexed Crimean peninsula with unmanned vehicles.
Earlier this month, Russia said four drones launched at Moscow were destroyed with air defense systems, with a fifth "suppressed by electronic warfare."
Ukraine's military regularly reports drone strikes, typically using Iranian-made Shahed-131 and Shahed-136 loitering munitions, across the country. On Tuesday, military officials in Kyiv said Russia had launched its sixth drone attack on the Ukrainian capital this month, but all of the drones were successfully intercepted.
Ukrainian defenses intercepted three Shahed drones during the past day, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in an update early on Tuesday.
Newsweek has reached out to the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries for comment via email.
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