Kyiv is using the Lima electronic warfare system to divert attacks by Russian drones and missiles.
If you can't shoot down a Russian missile, make it go elsewhere.
Putin has unintentionally caused Ukraine to become a leading international innovator in defense technology.
As Ukraine rations its limited air defense missiles, it is increasingly betting on the homegrown Lima electronic warfare system to disrupt and redirect Russian drones and missiles. One of Lima's developers told POLITICO how it works by interfering with the incoming weapon's guidance system. Unlike traditional air defenses, which destroy incoming threats by smashing into them with missiles, Lima jams and spoofs satellite navigation signals, causing Russian weapons to veer off course. The system has become an increasingly important layer of Ukraine’s air defense architecture as Russia intensifies long-range strikes and Kyiv faces persistent shortages of expensive interceptor missiles. Lima, developed by Cascade Systems, a Ukrainian defense startup, generates powerful jamming fields that disrupt satellite navigation. If satellite signals are blocked, Russian long-range weapons can continue flying using inertial navigation systems, but their accuracy can deviate by about 2 kilometers for every 100 kilometers traveled — meaning they are less likely to hit their targets.
A deviation of 2% is actually quite significant if you're aiming at a specific target.
This is also a cost effective defense system.
Unlike many other tactical jammers, Lima can cover large swaths of territory, protecting critical infrastructure. Each unit costs up to 3 million hryvnia (€58,000) to produce, depending on the iteration, according to Cascade. The company estimates that it takes 30 to 100 units to protect a major city — around €5 million. That's about the cost of a single Patriot PAC-3 missile.
The down side is that it's difficult to predict exactly where the disrupted Russian missiles may fall.
Jammed Russian drones and missiles still fall and hit something, causing damage, (Head of the Electronic Warfare Management Maksym) Skoretskyy said. Conventional kinetic air defenses, on the other hand, destroy an incoming missile or drone in the air; the resulting debris still hits the ground but causes less damage than an intact redirected weapon.
Of course almost anywhere is better than densely populated areas and critical infrastructure sites.
I suppose the Holy Grail of such technology would be to get the missile to turn around and go back where it came from. 😛😛
