Dozens of 'kamikaze' Russian drones 'being spoofed' by Ukraine military to hit wrong targets
Share:
Dozens of Russian drones are being “lost” over Ukraine which is spoofing some of them to fly back towards Russia or Belarus, according to military experts. Ukraine’s air defence downed 21 drones out of 43 launched by Russia in an overnight attack on Monday targeting six regions across the country, the Ukrainian air force said.
Drone debris damaged residential houses in the eastern Kharkiv region and in the Odesa region in the south, regional officials said. Kyiv’s air force said that 22 other drones were “lost”. Military analysts said Ukraine was increasingly using electronic warfare to redirect or spoof “kamikaze” Russian drones, some supplied by Iran.
This involves interfering with, and confusing, their navigation systems so they start targeting a different location. The tactic is believed to enable Ukraine to instruct the drones to instead head towards sites in Russia or Belarus. But the electronic warfare can also affect other devices, including civilians’ mobile phones.
The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces issued a statement last month to highlight this impact. It said in a statement: “Attention, during the measures to repel air attacks by the Russian occupiers, electronic warfare means are used. “In particular, to increase the effectiveness of the impact on the enemy, means of coordinates (spoofing) are used.
“A side effect of this impact is a violation of the precise time system used by mobile phones in the automatic time update mode. “Given the above, it is advisable to disable the automatic time update mode in the phone and take into account that during the announcement of air alerts, the accuracy of the operation of satellite navigation systems may be impaired.”.
