Lara Seligman – Yahoo April 12, 2023
American-made smart bombs are falling victim to Russian electronic jamming in Ukraine, causing them to miss their targets, according to leaked documents and confirmed by a Defense Department official.
In some cases, the weapons were also failing to detonate due to a technical issue, which Ukrainian troops have since addressed.
The news adds to an increasingly bleak picture of the state of Ukraine’s military that has emerged from a trove of top secret intelligence documents that leaked on social media and came to light over the past week. The documents show that Washington has grave concerns about Kyiv’s dwindling ammunition and air defenses, which could cause it to fall short of its goals for the anticipated spring counteroffensive.
The Pentagon in December began sending Kyiv advanced equipment that could convert unguided air-dropped munitions into precision-guided “smart bombs” that can hit Russian targets with a higher degree of accuracy.
The guided bombs can be launched by a variety of aircraft such as bombers and fighters, and are called Joint Direct Attack Munitions or JDAMs. The longer-range version being sent to Ukraine is called a JDAM-Extended Range, or JDAM-ER.
But the weapons have experienced higher-than-expected dud rates and have missed their targets on the battlefield, according to a leaked slide prepared by the Joint Staff and confirmed by a U.S. official, who was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.
In some cases, the bomb fuzes were not arming when they were released, causing the weapon to fail to detonate. The Ukrainian air force put in place a fix to ensure the bombs are arming correctly, according to the slide and the official.
The document includes a diagram of the munition and lays out the technical issue the weapons are experiencing as well as the proposed fix. It also provides a detailed account of the weapon’s failure rate in several recent attacks, including the dates and the number of munitions it took to take out the target. However, POLITICO could not independently verify that information.
A larger problem is that Russia is using GPS jamming to interfere with the weapons’ targeting process, according to the slide and a separate person familiar with the issue who’s not in the U.S. government. American officials believe Russian jamming is causing the JDAMs, and at times other American weapons such as guided rockets, to miss their mark.
“I do think there may be concern that the Russians may be jamming the signal used to direct the JDAMs, which would answer why these munitions are not performing in the manner expected and how they perform in other war zones,” said Mick Mulroy a former Pentagon official and retired CIA officer.
A spokesperson for Boeing, which makes the guidance kits, referred questions to the U.S. government when asked for comment. Defense Department spokesperson Lt. Col. Garron Garn declined to comment on the content of the leaked documents.
“We have seen Ukraine use the security assistance the U.S. and our partners and allies have provided to great success in the defense of their sovereign territory,” Garn said. “We are not going to discuss battle damage or intelligence assessments due to operational security considerations.”
The story of the US Navy destroyer USS Donald Duck
https://www.businessinsider.com/story-of-navy-donald-cook-unsafe-incident-with-russian-fighters-2019-10
Phony leaked documents–to make the moronic masses imagine that Russia/USA are ‘enemies’ & aren’t governed by the same transnational syndicate of Semitic central banks & rabbis aka ‘ZOG’. Its all a setup to wipe out more whites in their global white population reduction program.
This current conflict has given rise to a new kind of Porn – ‘Weapons Porn’, whereby ‘journalists’ with as much technical knowledge of armaments and weaponry as me – i.e. f*** all, like this Lara Stupidperson, engage in this stream of impressive-seeming techno-b****ks –
But they reveal their hand in just being cutters and pasters of pseudo-tech bolígrafo by 8 year old schoolgirl Spelling Errors –
.
“In some cases, the bomb fuzes were not arming .”
The bum fuzes were nut armin!!
Excellent point for kaftan to link the Donald Cook incidents. The Russians have been ahead in electronic warfare for some time. However, I am surprised the Ukrainians are able to fly anything that can drop JDAMs given Russian control of the skies. These are not something you can launch from hundreds of kilometers away, you have to fly over or at least somewhat near the target. Airforce-Technology.com says that JDAM-ER maximum range is 72 km from the target. What do the Ukrainians still have that can get that close to a target, given the very capable Russian air defenses and their air superiority? It was my impression they had very few aircraft remaining.
Russia has a massive lead in jamming technology. They have buzzed US carriers and ships, and several US ships appear to have been blinded, and had no idea that they were blinded, until the ship collided with another vessel. So its no surprise if US smart missiles are being jammed, and it would be no surprise if US ICBMs could be jammed, or even detonated mid fight.