Ukraine destroyed an important Russian weapon commander says

The Russian Armed Forces have lost an important electronic warfare system in Ukraine according to reports. Here’s what was destroyed and how it will aid Ukraine's war effort. 

Russia’s Pole-21 is a powerful electronic warfare system that was designed to jam radio signals and guide the country’s munitions and drones according to David Axe of Forbes. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Vitaly V. Kuzmin

Axe explained that the system contains “a combination of antennae and powerful radio-signal generators that can interfere with the radio links between GPS satellites and the drones, cruise missile and precision-guided bombs.”

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Mil.ru

Unfortunately for the Russians, one of these vital pieces of equipment was destroyed in southern Ukraine by the very weapon that it was designed to jam, a GPS-guided bomb. 

Commander of the Tavriia Operational Strategic Group of Forces Oleksandr Tarnavskyi confirmed the destruction of the Pole-21 system by Ukrainian soldiers on his Telegram. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons by President Of Ukraine from Україна

"A Pole-21 electronic warfare system designed to interfere with satellite navigation,” the commander wrote, “has been destroyed” according to a Ukrainska Pravda translation. 

Russia’s Pole-21 is quite an interesting weapon of war and one that is relatively new to the country’s military. Created in 2016, the Pole-21 plays a vital role in Russia’s military. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Vitaly V. Kuzmin

The Pole-21 was designed to protect important installations and high-value targets from attack via precision-guided weapons, which makes the loss of the recent Pole-21 ironic. 

This modern electronic warfare system works by interfering with any equipment that is reliant on GPS and radio signals and Russia claims it has a range of roughly 37 miles or 60km.

David Axe reported that it wasn’t clear what was being protected by the Pole-21 system destroyed by Ukraine but said it could have something to do with the counter-offensive. 

The area where the Pole-21 was taken out is the “locus” of Ukraine's counter-offensive Axe explained, and an “obvious place for the Kremlin to concentrate its best jammers.”

Axe added that the Russian Armed Forces have long focused on developing electronic warfare systems that are effective at blunting NATO’s advantage in precision munitions. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By U.S. Navy photo by Photographers Mate Second Class Felix Garza Jr. 

A 2017 report from the Estonian Defense Ministry highlighted Moscow’s growing power in the electronic warfare space, noting that Moscow’s military was growing its inventory. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Vitaly V. Kuzmin

“The effect of those changes is evident in Russia’s aggression against Ukraine,” noted the report, adding electronic warfare was part of “kinetic and non-kinetic operations” in Ukraine. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By ВО «Свобода»

However, for all of Russia’s efforts in the electronic warfare space, the Kremlin’s Pole-21 system isn’t perfect. In fact, it not only blocks enemy systems but also Russian systems. 

“The drawback of the system is that its electronic countermeasures affect both the enemy using the GPS radio navigation system and the domestic users of GPS and its Russian analog, GLONASS,” the system’s manual says according to Defense Express. 

Ukrainian forces have lost at least 60 Russian electronic warfare systems since Moscow invaded the country with 45 being destroyed, 8 damaged, and 7 captured according to the open-source equipment losses tracking intelligence group Oryx.