On March 19, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) in its report based on information received as of 19:30, 18 March 2019, reported the observing of two types of the latest electronic warfare systems in the occupied territory of Ukraine. InformNapalm OSINT analysts believe that Russians are testing these systems not only against the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but also against American UAVs.

According to the report, on March 16 in non-government-controlled areas:

“An SMM mini-UAV spotted an automatic jamming system (R-330Zh, Zhitel) on a KamAZ-4310 and a radio-electronic jamming complex (Tirada-2) near Yuzhna-Lomuvatka (60km west of Luhansk).”

Tirada-2

Tirada-2 is an electronic warfare jamming system specialized in disabling communication satellites.

Scale model of Tirada-2S presented by Max-2013.

The development of this system began in 2001. The first time it was publicly announced in 2017. In August 2018 , at the Army-2018 Forum, a contract for supplying the Russian Ministry of Defense with these latest EW systems was publicly signed, and in the autumn they were tested.

The manufacturer is OAO Elektropribor Zavod company from Vladimir, Russia. In December 2018, RIA Novosti reported that Tirada-2 systems would enter service in the Central Military District in 2019.

R-330Zh Zhitel

The Russian R-330Zh Zhitel automated jamming communication station is designed for the automated detection, beaming and analysis of signals from sources of radio emission in the frequency range of 100-2000 MHz, as well as for jamming of portable and mobile ground radio stations (user terminals) of INMARSAT and IRIDIUM satellite communication systems, of the navigation equipment running on the NAVSTAR (GPS) satellite radio navigation system and of GSM-900/1800 base stations.

It has not been supplied to Ukraine. Several times it was recorded in the investigations of InformNapalm ( 1 , 2 , 3 ).

Note that these two EW systems jam not only satellite communications, but also short wave and ultra-short wave radio frequencies, as well as cellular and trunked radio communications.

Russians are trying to jam American UAV

An American RQ-4B Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft often flies above the contact line. It is equipped with a Hughes Integrated Surveillance & Reconnaissance (HISAR) sensor system. This is a lower-cost derivative of the ASARS-2 system developed by Hughes and currently supported by Raytheon for the Lockheed U-2 Dragon Lady spyplane. This system is also used on the RCA-7B aircraft deployed by the US Army and is sold on the international market. The system has a SAR/MTI radar, as well as optical and infrared sensors. All three subsystems can work simultaneously, and their data is processed by a single processor. Digital data can be transmitted to the ground in real time within the line of sight or through a satellite channel at a speed up to 50 Mbps. InformNapalm OSINT analysts believe that the Russians, using the newest EW stations spotted by the OSCE Mission on March 16 in the occupied territory, are trying to shut down the communication channel between the US UAV and the satellite. Otherwise, they would have no need to bring the newest powerful EW systems to the Donbas.

We also want to remind you that in July 2018, the OSCE SMM report officially mentioned four newest types of Russian electronic warfare systems spotted in the occupied territory for the first time during the entire period of hostilities in the Donbas, but for some reason this information had not been made public for 14 days.

This publication was prepared specially for InformNapalm web site. Translated by Svitlana Kemblowski.

An active link to the authors and our project is obligatory for any reprint or further public use of the material.
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