Ukraine’s Electronic Warfare Fight Means Drone Pilots Must Sort Safe Paths

Ukraine’s skies are so crowded with drones and electronic warfare interference that its operators are having to negotiate safe passage for their drones through friendly jamming zones, sometimes over group chats.

Ukrainian drone pilots told Business Insider that to keep their drones from being knocked out by friendly defenses, operators message nearby units to reserve flight “corridors” at specific times and locations, adding a strange new layer of coordination in a war increasingly fought over the electromagnetic spectrum, where both sides’ jammers can cripple their own weapons as easily as the enemy’s.

“We have to coordinate, saying when we are going to fly through the front line,” explained Dimko Zhluktenko, a pilot with Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces.

A key battle happening in Ukraine’s fight back against Russia’s invasion is the electronic warfare battle, an invisible fight over the electromagnetic spectrum that’s become much more heated as the drone war expands.

Both sides are constantly fighting for the upper hand. Zhluktenko described part of his job as finding Russia’s electronic warfare systems so they can be targeted.

A Ukrainian drone operator who spoke to Business Insider on the condition of anonymity to discuss operations said pilots have to work closely with not just their own unit, but also other units in an area. Electronic warfare devices blanket specific zones with jamming signals, and pilots have to negotiate a way through.

“We have to somehow work with this by figuring out what path we can take,” he said, adding that it can be difficult to coordinate with other units. Sometimes operators can’t get what they need.

Part of a bigger picture

Jakub Jajcay, a former Slovak army officer who spent six months with Ukraine’s army, told Business Insider that Ukraine’s desperate need to stop Russian drones means that jamming systems and gear to physically stop drones were everywhere, and while Ukraine’s operators try their best to coordinate flights, it wasn’t always possible.

“You couldn’t literally tell every single infantry unit in the area where you were operating,” he said, explaining that it isn’t like the operators always could say: “Guys, one of our drones is going to be flying overhead, don’t shoot it down.”

He said that, in his experience, drone operators and soldiers of a similar rank “were definitely not in control of the electronic warfare systems. That was something that was decided on a much higher level.”

“Sometimes we could request that they be turned off or they’d be turned on when we needed them, but that was kind of outside of our control.” If Ukraine needed its electronic warfare systems firing, Jajcay and his comrades were just told when it would be on and when it would be off again. That was the end of the discussion.

“There wasn’t a whole lot we could do about that,” he said.

A drone operator in Ukraine’s Separate Presidential Brigade, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for security reasons, told Business Insider that his unit usually pre-approves drone flights with commanders overseeing electronic warfare to avoid friendly fire incidents.

However, he said, the system isn’t perfect, and there are still occasional issues, like when Russia attacks with lots of FPV drones or glide bombs and the electronic warfare remains on to counter the incoming threats.

A bunch of drones

Neither side can fight without drones, which have become essential amid shortages of other weaponry, from artillery shells to precision-guided munitions. They are used to gather intelligence and to attack, ranging in size from small, off-the-shelf drones to huge, military-grade ones, and there are drones equipped with explosives, machine guns, and grenades, among other things.

There are also drones designed to intercept other drones.

Ukrainian officials say that at least 70% of all casualties inflicted have been caused by drones.

The sheer number makes it difficult to maneuver on the battlefield, creating challenges for dismounted troops and vehicles alike. Soldiers are often uncertain which drone flying overhead belongs to which side. Some panic jam everything or open fire on anything flying in response.

Jajcay said that sometimes, Ukrainian soldiers, unaware that friendly drones were passing through an area, “wouldn’t wait to figure out if it was friendly or unfriendly. They’d just shoot it down.”

Zhluktenko previously told Business Insider that many Russian and Ukrainian drones are so similar that soldiers have trouble distinguishing between them and engage them regardless of which side they actually belong to.

“Imagine yourself being an infantry guy,” he said. “You are seeing an FPV drone flying at you, and you literally have no idea whether that is a Russian one that just came from behind or a Ukrainian.” A soldier in charge of an electronic warfare system may “literally click all of the frequencies to be jammed because they’re scared,” he said.

Both the drone and electronic warfare developments are critical arms races in this war. Many new innovations are being designed to prevent drones from being jammed. These include drones that don’t use GPS, drones that are controlled by fiber-optic cables, artificial intelligence-enabled drones, and drones that jump frequencies to try to evade jamming.

But new technology doesn’t reach the front lines overnight and both sides are constantly adapting to counter it. As a result, Ukraine’s troops often find themselves juggling cutting-edge tools and outdated gear in the same battlespace, locked in a jamming race that shows no sign of slowing and still demands significant communication and coordination in battle.