Sputnik
The proxy war has put NATO weaponry to the test and found it to be lacking.
“The US has been Ukraine's single most important ally” in its conflict with Russia, observes analysis from Business Insider Friday, but Kiev’s use of American weapons systems has left it reliant on technology with “serious flaws.”
The website’s investigation reveals Russian superiority in a number of areas, including drones and electronic warfare, as well as the deficiencies of the United States’ military production sector.
“One area in which the US has revealed its shortcomings is in electronic warfare,” the author writes. “Russia's jamming systems have created major issues with Western precision weaponry, including GMLRS rockets and Excalibur artillery shells. Russia's electronic warfare units have become increasingly adept at scrambling the GPS navigation systems used to guide the missiles and shells to their targets, sending them off course and rendering them useless.”
The observation was also made recently by The New York Times, which acknowledged that Russia’s electronic jamming capabilities have managed to disable even the US’s vaunted HIMARS missiles, and echoed this week by an ex-Pentagon analyst. The retired Army lieutenant general suggested America is significantly behind in developing similar technology.
The Business Insider analysis also noted that Russia has better adapted to modern realities of fighting in the age of drone warfare, with constant surveillance making attempts to obscure troops and supply routes impossible. US Army units currently rely on a small number of outdated drones, the article admits.
The US military’s attempts to develop microwave weapons and drone swarms to counter Russian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have so far failed to bear fruit, demonstrating the weaknesses of a military industrial complex that for decades has been focused on “war against militant groups such as the Taliban* in Afghanistan” rather than combating large state actors.
The result has been an inefficient defense production base, both in terms of cost and developing sufficient quantities of weapons. Analysis published earlier this year revealed that Russia is now producing three times more ammunition than the United States and all European allies of Ukraine combined as Russian military industry has stepped into high gear. Kiev reportedly “was being outfired at a rate of 10-1 on parts of the front line” earlier this year, notes Business Insider.
The article observes that the United States is capable of producing high-quality armaments, but claims they are hopelessly expensive compared to Russian equipment that can be produced at a much lower cost, allowing the country to prevail in “fights which require endurance.”
The Russian air defense shot down 9 ATACMS missiles and 61 Ukrainian drones over the past night, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday.
Since 2023, Ukraine has been attacking Russian civilian infrastructure in the wake of apparent military setbacks. Russian officials have repeatedly stressed that deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure is an act of terrorism that represents the criminal nature of the Kiev regime.
"Over the past night, a number of attempts by the Kiev regime to carry out terrorist attacks using American ATACMS operational-tactical missiles and fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles against targets on the territory of the Russian Federation were prevented. Air defense systems destroyed nine ATACMS operational-tactical missiles and one drone over the territory of the Republic of Crimea and three drones over the territory of the Belgorod Region, while 57 drones were destroyed and intercepted over the territory of the Krasnodar Territory," the ministry said.
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