Posted on 10/06/2026 11:10:12 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
From spoofing hypersonic missiles to jamming drone signals, combat zones are in the grip of an electronic arms race
KYIV, Ukraine—Earlier this year, two Russian ballistic missiles hurtled at hypersonic speeds toward a key government site in Ukraine’s capital city. They crashed into the Dnipro River after being intercepted by a radio signal.
Around that time, the navigation apps on many phones in Kyiv showed users as located in Peru. It was the electronic calling card of Night Watch, an elite Ukrainian jamming unit that says it downed the missiles with its Lima system.
A silent electronic battle is raging at the heart of the Russia-Ukraine war. Both sides are attacking and defending communication signals on an unprecedented scale, innovating at pace, while the U.S. and other Western countries are working to catch up. The Pentagon is investing heavily in new capabilities.
“This is a new era of spectrum warfare,” said Lt. Col. Matt Sherburne, the U.S. Army’s chief for electronic warfare capabilities development.
Electronic warfare isn’t new, but it fell out of focus in the West after the end of the Cold War. Then came Russia’s war on Ukraine, where swarms of drones have become the dominant weapon on the front lines. Both sides are now engaged in a constant game of cat and mouse, jumping around the frequency spectrum to jam and avoid each other, and they are increasingly using AI to do that.
Electronic warfare is already reshaping the battlefield. The U.S. began its operation to grab former President Nicolás Maduro by using electronic warfare to knock out the ability of the Venezuelans to see and communicate. The Iran war saw the first deployment of the U.S.’s new signal-jamming jet,...
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
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There has been an electronic arms race since WWI. The electronics have just become more sophisticated and more integral is all.
What they’re doing ten years on will make this seem primitive, just like tapping a field telephone line seems primitive to us today.
Family Treemaker genealogy software is from Ukraine.
In the USA, a lot of the folks who developed our electronic technology got their start with ham radio.
If we are going to stay ahead, helping young folks develop an interest in ham radio is a good idea.
When WWIII starts, the first things to go will be the satellites.
I am good at passing multiple-guess tests and got my Technician, General, and Amateur Extra licenses a couple of years ago. Bought some QRP equipment, but the antenna is the hard part. I do not want to drill a hole into my house for an outside antenna.
And that doesn’t even mean they’ll be attacked, I don’t think.
GPS will go “dark”, as I cannot believe it is not, already, over Iran. It is hard to believe that GPS satellites cannot be controlled to send little, no or false signals at specific parts of their orbits.
Drones around Iran should be “lost”.
The only reason I can see for this not being the case is to foster dependence.
“helping young folks develop an interest in ham radio is a good idea.”
Bring back Radio Shack. From the 60s to the 90s is brought more kids into electronics than any other institution in the US.
Before the fall of the USSR Radio Shack walkie talkies and ham radios were the #1 item in demand in the Eastern Bloc countries.
Management in Ft Worth was stupid to try to be something they weren’t.
I bought my first shortwave radio at Radio Shack. I credit that and stamp collecting as a kid with gaining knowledge about the world.
I think Radio Shack was trying to not be dying. Some things cannot be avoided.
Electronics has changed, whether we like it, or not. NTSC is gone. I used to love making my old grandfather’s tube television parts work, again. Now, there is no point.
Radio Shack will always be a fond childhood memory, for me.
(BTW I still use some “Archer” PC Boards, I have a stash of.)
Its also the speed of adaptation is much faster on the front lines in Ukraine where software updates or changes to drones can be done in record time.
If a drone needs an update, he said, "you have to send it to a Western country or a company, and an update takes six months." But in Ukraine, "they have the engineers sitting close to the front updating every two days, every two weeks, developing software, adapting it to genuine situations."
Partner nations say Ukraine has shown that faster weapons development requires less bureaucracy, more risk tolerance, and closer cooperation with industry.
https://www.businessinsider.com/nato-ukraine-trainers-see-challenge-hitting-wartime-speeds-in-peace-2026-9
I would think the missiles can be pre-programmed for a target and no gps or radio link needed and the electronics in the missile would be protected from any outside radio signal.
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