On the night of January 13, the Russian Federation launched more than 40 missiles against Ukraine. Air defence forces destroyed seven missiles, and about 20 more "did not reach their targets" due to electronic warfare (EW).
Ukrainian EW can shoot down missiles
The BBC writes that for the first time, Ukraine publicly announced such a successful method of countering Russian missiles with the EW's help.
More than 20 were directly affected by EW tools. As already mentioned, there are possibly low-quality missiles that may simply not reach their targets and fall in the field, explained the spokesman of the Air Force Command, Yuriy Ignat.
Analysts of the "Institute for the Study of War" (ISW) called this a "change" in the capabilities of the Ukrainian missile defence system since previously, the capabilities of radio-electronic warfare were used to disable Russian drones, but not missiles.
The BBC notes that, according to Valery Zaluzhnyi, at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian troops had 65% of the electronic warfare stations manufactured during the times of the USSR. Only 25 samples were new.
An exclusive development can change the parity — the secret Ukrainian system "Pokrova". Probably, it was she who could ensure the "neutralisation" of dozens of Russian missiles on the night of January 13, — the BBC believes.
EW station "Pokrova": what is known
It is little known about "Pokrova" EW station. In his article dated November 1, 2023, for the British edition of the Economist, the AFU Commander-in-Chief mentions it almost for the first time.
He reported that Ukraine is deploying the state-wide EW system "Pokrova" with the possibility of replacing the satellite radio navigation field ("spoofing"), suppressing radio navigation along the entire line of contact and on most of Ukraine'sterritory.
A few days after the shelling on January 13, the head of the EW Department of Ukraine's Armed Forces General Staff, Colonel Andriy Starykov, confirmed on the air of a telethon that "Pokrova" was already working but did not specify the territory covered.
The system is the most advanced in the world, no one else has it. It can influence the guidance of cruise missiles and partly on the "Shakhed" kamikaze drones, the Colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said.
