June 29, 2024: In Ukraine a Russian offensive in early May featured a rare disruption of the SpaceX Starlink communications service that the Ukrainian forces had become heavily dependent on for radio communications and video feeds from drones, ground forces and aircraft. The cause of the Starlink disruption was a new form of Russian electronic jamming. Ukraine and Russia are engaged in a constant battle to develop new forms of jamming and adapt their equipment to deal with it.

Without Starlink, Ukrainian forces have to rely on the same radio technology that the Russian have access to. This can also be jammed, but the jamming works both ways. Ukraine has sent reports of the jamming incidents to SpaceX as well as their NATO allies who are also planning to use Starlink for military operations.

Russian jamming is also interfering with Western guided weapons, like the GLMRS guided rocks launched from HIMARS vehicles. Less frequently used guided weapons, like the Excalibur guided 155mm shell, are also affected. Ukraine already had developed a countermeasure for the jamming, but only for locally made drones (UAVs) that depend on a variety of guidance systems including “fire and forget” systems where the operator selects a distant target, which out of range of the jamming, and then launches the missile that is equipped with a picture of the target and homes in on that. Another version of this technology is used against Russian jammers where the Ukrainian rocket or air delivered bomb home in on the Russian jamming signal. NATO nations that have supported the Ukrainian war effort with over $100 billion in military aid, so far, are taking notes because what happens to the Ukrainians could happen to a NATO force in the future, or an American, South Korean, Japanese force in the Pacific facing Chinese aggression.