- The Pentagon is learning lessons from the Ukraine war.
- The conflict has shown its missiles are vulnerable to electronic jamming, an analyst told The Washington Post.
- The Ukraine war is changing the way the Pentagon plans for war.
The US has long placed its faith in expensive weapons as the key to victory in conflicts, but the Ukraine war is forcing it to revise its assumptions, according to The Washington Post.
Stacie Pettyjohn, director of the defense program at the Center for a New American Security, told the outlet that the conflict has complicated long-held ideas that expensive, precision-guided weapons were key to winning US wars.
US-made Himars or Excalibur shells, which are guided to their targets using GPS, have proven vulnerable to Russian electronic warfare units, which scramble their signals and send them off course.
Pettyjohn told the Post that the US has almost certainly taken note of the fact that Ukraine is now using older artillery which are guided to their targets using sensors and drones.
Himars rockets cost around $240,000 each, and in 2022 were deployed effectively by Ukraine to take out Russian targets behind the front lines in precision strikes.
But leaked US intelligence documents last year indicated concerns that Russia had found ways to target them using electronic warfare, and by the time of Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the summer their impact was blunted.
Ukraine has instead used relatively cheap drones to identify targets for missile strikes. These weapons are not as vulnerable to electronic warfare tactics.
Problems with implementing US tactics have also been exposed during the war, with Ukrainian troops seeking to unsuccessfully use NATO maneuver tactics to break through Russian defenses.
According to the Post, lessons from Ukraine will inform the US’ next National Defense Strategy, with analysts examining ground warfare, information warfare, long-range fire capability, and other aspects of the conflict.
