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| Pentagon is worried that Russia is turning their 'smart' bombs into 'stupid' ones |
| 2023-07-19 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. By Sergey Adamov [REGNUM] Over the past decades, the United States has managed to convince much of the world that its armed forces are the strongest and most modern. The American approach to the conduct of hostilities in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, and Libya was, in the opinion of the United States, the best proof of superiority. In all of these conflicts, the US Army has relied on high-precision missiles equipped with a GPS-guided system that disable military infrastructure. Aviation and ground forces could only "finish off" the disorganized enemy. However, it seems that the era of American dominance in missile weapons is gradually coming to an end. According to The Economist, citing US government adviser and president of the non-profit Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation Dana Howard , the Pentagon has been warning Congress for years that the military is too dependent on GPS systems. And now the American military has to pay the price for the carelessness of politicians. According to The Economist, the vulnerability of GPS-guided projectiles has been clearly demonstrated in Ukraine. UAF-supplied JDAM glide bombs, Excalibur precision-guided artillery shells, and GPS-guided GMLRS missiles for HIMARS jet systems are facing serious opposition. “When the GPS fails, how will the weapons find their targets?” the authors of the article ask. As military expert Alexander Mikhailovsky told IA Regnum , the main means of countering missiles and GPS-guided projectiles are electronic warfare systems (EW). In many ways, it was they who were able to neutralize the effect of the supply of precision-guided munitions to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. “The mechanism for countering guided munitions looks like this: there is a JDAM planning bomb. It has a control unit into which the target coordinates are loaded. After launch, the bomb begins to glide on retractable wings, changing direction with the help of controlled tail fins. When a bomb enters the range of electronic warfare systems, the guidance system is disrupted, causing the bomb to deviate from a predetermined target. To simplify, the electronic warfare means "deceive" the guidance system and give it a false coordinate system. The electronic warfare complex imitates a signal from a satellite, but transmits unreliable navigation information. The second scenario assumes that the electronic warfare complex “hacks” the guidance system of a guided munition, intercepts control over it and directs the missile away from the target. And there is also an option when the electronic warfare complex clogs the communication channel between the satellite and the GPS receiver with interference, but this rather refers to the fight against drones , ”the expert notes. Problems with guided weapons supplied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine have been previously reported. In March-April, Pentagon official documents were published on the Web , which reported problems with the operation of JDAM-ER bombs. Later, CNN reported that Russian electronic warfare systems had seriously reduced the effectiveness of the use of HIMARS installations for delivering precision strikes. According to Alexander Mikhailovsky, it was the use of electronic warfare systems that nullified the successes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine achieved with the use of HIMARS systems in the first months after they were delivered to Ukraine. Recently, Ukrainian troops have been using less and less GMLRS-M30 guided munitions and more often use the less accurate M26 or M28. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are actively using Storm Shadow/SCALP air bombs to strike at communications and rear areas of Russian troops, but even these munitions are less and less likely to reach their targets. True, the expert notes, this is not a reason to believe that the guided weapons supplied by the West turned out to be useless. “In the case of the supply of more and more new weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the same scheme works: first, the enemy has some success, then effective means of combat are found. After that, Western partners are asked to stop using the same JDAM-ER bombs, due to the fact that they are too expensive to be destroyed without any positive effect. And even if we assume that the Ukrainian troops will receive ATACMS tactical missiles, the effect will be about the same. But, firstly, they were able to drink a lot of blood for us, disrupting the supply of the Kherson group of troops. And secondly, it is quite possible that specialists are now analyzing failures and preparing modernized versions of new weapons , ”the specialist noted. For the first time, the successful use of Russian electronic warfare systems against American missiles became known in 2017. As a result of a missile attack on the Al-Shayrat Syrian Air Force base, out of 59 high-precision missiles, 36 did not reach the target. Then there were suggestions in the media that the Krasukha electronic warfare systems were used to intercept the missiles. “Everything related to electronic warfare systems is a secret with seven seals,” said Alexander Mikhailovsky. “Therefore, certain aspects of the work of electronic warfare are known only to specialists. It is possible that many complexes are still classified. There is information that the Samarkand electronic warfare systems are jamming the GPS signal, but the features of their work have never been advertised. R-330 Zhitel complexes can also be used. The "Shipovnik-AERO" complexes can be used to hack and intercept drones and guided munitions. To suppress communication channels, Palantin complexes are used, which specialize in creating interference. In short, there is a wide range of electronic warfare tools that can really turn American “smart bombs” into stupid ones, so the Pentagon’s concerns about the vulnerability of GPS weapons are quite understandable. As The Economist notes, the US military is considering a number of ways to counter electronic warfare systems. In particular, it is supposed to be equipped with high-precision autonomous guidance systems that will be able to analyze the "picture" of the target obtained using a video camera, comparing it with satellite images. To replace GPS, American specialists are developing inertial guidance systems that allow the ammunition control complex to obtain coordinates on its own, without relying on external data. It is also proposed to introduce ammunition into the troops, the guidance system of which relies on the geomagnetic field of the Earth. However, journalists admit, it takes years to develop such systems, but for now, GPS systems have to be dispensed with. As the publication summarizes, the easiest way to counter electronic warfare systems is to destroy them. And it seems that this is the tactic Ukrainian troops are trying to use. “Both the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Western experts who advise them also analyze their failures and make adjustments to the tactics of using high-precision systems. Yes, they refused to strike with HIMARS "packets" on our rear communications. But recently, these systems are increasingly being used to strike at single targets located in the immediate vicinity of the front line: artillery mounts, anti-aircraft systems, etc. The good news is that they cannot get to the electronic warfare systems. And most likely it won't work. The bad news is that they analyze threats and look for countermeasures. And this means that we won the round, but not the fight as a whole , ”notes Alexander Mikhailovsky. Nevertheless, the expert continues, the era of global dominance of American guided weapons is gradually coming to an end. And if these means can still be used extremely successfully against Iraq or another country with not the most modern army, then the plans for a global confrontation with Russia or China will have to be reviewed by the Pentagon. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #7 Worried about Russian dumb bombs as we change the roll of packing tape on the shipping dock with our pallet of cluster bombs. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2023-07-19 11:56 |
| #6 Like every weapon system in real life, the truth is far more complicated than what is put in print. When Ukraine got western guided weapons (GPS), they had success, then the Russians started using their jammers again. They had stopped because they were fucking with their own planes. This did cause issues with HIMARS and guided bombs at first and increased the error radius of the impact point. Meaning that instead of a 2 meter impact point from target you get a 10 meter or so. Of course all the anti-western media sources preached from the highest points that the western weapons were done, crap, not worth it, etc. Militaries are not stagnate and change and adapt, including the Russians. So, the western weapons guys looked at how the jammers worked, what was going joinkie and then changed the programing of how the weapons were guided in. Now the jammers don't work again and we see videos of HIMARS, Excalibur and smart bombs hitting the actual jammers. But, since militaries aren't stagnate, the Russians will change up their jammers to counter this. Rinse, repeat. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2023-07-19 11:15 |
| #5 Smart. Dumb. I'm the one with the bomb. /Ash |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2023-07-19 10:12 |
| #4 Alternatively, the bolt on guidance unit inventories are becoming depleted by demand. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2023-07-19 09:31 |
| #3 It doesn't matter how smart the bomb is if it's dropped on the wrong target. It doesn't matter how stupid the bomb is if it kills you. |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2023-07-19 08:53 |
| #2 Unlike the stupid bombs we have in the Washington Military District. |
| Posted by: DooDahMan 2023-07-19 06:39 |
| #1 Nevertheless, the expert continues, the era of global dominance of American guided weapons is gradually coming to an end. And if these means can still be used extremely successfully against Iraq or another country with not the most modern army, then the plans for a global confrontation with Russia or China will have to be reviewed by the Pentagon. Sergey, Keep telling yourself that. Mikhail |
| Posted by: MikeKozlowski 2023-07-19 06:12 |