Ukraine's electronic warfare system diverts two Russian missiles targeting government facility
Photo: Electronic warfare systems help divert Russian missiles away from Kyiv (illustrative photo, Getty Images)
Ukraine's Lima electronic warfare system, according to the military, diverted two Russian ballistic missiles this year that were heading toward a government facility in Kyiv, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Two missiles were heading toward Kyiv at hypersonic speed, but after being hit by a radio signal, they fell into the Dnipro River. Around the same time, navigation apps on Kyiv residents' phones showed that they were in Peru. According to the WSJ, this is a kind of "signature" of the NIchna Varta (Night Watch) unit.
Similarly, the military says it shot down a Kinzhal hypersonic missile last November, which Putin once called invulnerable. Lima sent the missile a false navigation signal, causing it to change course and break apart due to its own extreme speed.
The system can jam signals at a range of up to 190 km and disrupt drones, missiles, and guided aerial bombs. For ballistic missiles, it uses so-called spoofing: the airwaves are flooded with false signals to throw the missile off course.
At the end of 2024, the Nichna Varta discovered that Russian missiles and drones had been equipped with Chinese antennas capable of detecting the source of interference and avoiding it within fractions of a second. For three months, the military and Lima's manufacturer, Cascade, worked around the clock to create an updated version, Lima Quant.
The Russian forces responded by increasing the number of antennas from four to eight, then to 16, and now to 32. Each time, this was a response to a new update to the Ukrainian system.
The threat of ballistic strikes remains relevant. On the evening of October 6, Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that a massive attack was being prepared and urged Ukrainians not to ignore air raid alerts. In late September, Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara asked EU countries to provide Ukraine with some Patriot missiles from their stockpiles in exchange for future deliveries.
