As Russia is continuing to escalate its involvements in Syria, the country is utilizing electronic warfare systems in its efforts. The use of such systems has proven to be extremely popular throughout the conflicts in Syria.
One of these Russian systems is the Krasukha-4, which is designed to prevent satellite systems and surveillance radars from operating properly. It works by jamming the frequencies that are emitted by the satellites. Russia has reportedly been using the Krasukha-4 against low-orbit satellites of the United States.
The commander of the United States Army Forces in Europe Lt. General Hodges has stated that Russia has previously demonstrated an advanced level of offensive electronic warfare technology when it used the Krasukha-4 against Ukraine.
While Russia and Western countries largely agree on the need to defeat forces of the Islamic State in Syria, they disagree on what should be done about Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Russia wants to keep President Assad in office, while the United States is working to bring him down.
The United Kingdom originally developed electronic warfare (EW) in World War II in an effort to defend itself against bombings and to prevent Allied nations from being detected by enemy surveillance systems.
Since then, EW technology has progressed tremendously, and it is now considered to be a major element of any serious war. Countries are continuing to invest billions of dollars in order to further develop the technology.
There are many aspects of EW, including attack and support, electronic intelligence and signals intelligence. Typically, EW is employed in very early portions of wars, before any actual combat begins, as a method for preventing the opponent from obtaining information about their weapons and their forces. It is also used throughout wars as a primary method of spying.
The United States has used EW technology throughout its involvement in Syria. The country has used EW to gather intelligence from opposing forces such as ISIS, and it has shared such intelligence with its allies. It has also used EW to prevent ISIS forces from communicating.
Russia is well aware that its aircrafts are being monitored by forces such as the United States. As such, it is no surprise that Russian forces are working diligently to prevent other countries from spying on them while figuring out who their next target will be.
However, the Krasukha-4 can only be used to hide Russian activity to limited effectiveness. The United States and other enemies of Russia are making use of electronic counter-counter measures (ECCM) to prevent the surveillance-prevention device from working. By doing this, the United States and its allies will be able to continue to spy on Russia.
Of course, similar activity is going on the other side of the fight. The result is one giant game of cat and mouse that is very reminiscent of the Cold War.
But regardless of the outcome, it’s clear that the Syrian situation is giving military powers a chance to test out new technology in real situations.
Still, it’s nothing more than one big circle.
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