Special report | Electronic warfare

The latest in the battle of jamming with electronic beams

Jamming is knocking drones and missiles out of the sky 

A M777 Howitzer fires rounds of M982 Excalibur 155mm shells
Wielding ExcaliburImage: Sgt. Sean Harriman/ US Army phot

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”

From the July 8th 2023 edition

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