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Joint Direct Attack Munitions, which rely on satellites for navigation, are repeatedly missing their targets.
www.popularmechanics.com
Joint Direct Attack Munitions, which rely on satellites for navigation, are repeatedly missing their targets.
BY
KYLE MIZOKAMI
APR 20, 2023
- JDAM satellite-guided bombs provided to Ukraine are missing their targets.
- First used in Afghanistan, the bombs home in on coordinates with the help of GPS signals, greatly boosting accuracy.
- Russia has considerable experience with anti-GPS techniques, including protecting President Vladimir Putin, himself.
American-made satellite-guided bombs provided to Ukraine are missing their targets. These Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs)—which use a strap-on kit that turns ordinary aerial bombs into precision-guided weapons—have repeatedly failed in the field, falling victim to Russian electronic-warfare jamming.
Battlefield Improvisation
A ground crew directs a MiG-29 fighter jet of the Ukrainian Air Force after a flight, November 2016.
Over the past year, the United States and Ukraine have been working together to bring advanced American weapons to the Ukrainian Air Force’s aging
fighter jets. In September 2022, Ukraine’s air force surprised the world when it revealed that it was using American-made AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARMs),
launched from MiG-29 and Su-27 fighters to attack Russian air-defense radars. The HARMS, used to attack Russian air-defense radars, helped Ukrainian jets and helicopters move a little more safely near an extremely dangerous front line.
In December, the U.S. government took a further step, announcing it would send JDAM satellite-guided bombs to Ukraine. Guided by GPS satellite signals, the bombs were supposed to provide Ukraine with a quick and easy precision-guided aerial bomb capability. Now, four months later, the U.S. government believes that the bombs are falling victim to
Russian jamming efforts,
according to Politico.