An American intelligence officer stated that the survival time of a NATO brigade in a current conflict with Russia would only be 3 days, amid the intense electronic warfare between Russia and Ukraine.
Former US military intelligence officer Scott Ritter lectured on the YouTube channel Dialogue Works about the “life expectancy” of a NATO brigade in a fierce conflict with Russia if it were to occur in the current period.
Scott Ritter believes that a NATO brigade today can only survive for about three days when facing the Russian Army. Therefore, he feels that if Germany sends a brigade to Lithuania, they would “survive for three more days.”
Scott Ritter added that, although NATO countries are deploying troops near the Russian border, including in the Baltic countries, this does not mean they are ready for a full-scale war. Ritter noted that Germany plans to deploy troops in Lithuania by 2027.
The former US military intelligence officer emphasized, “It takes three years to form a force, but only weak nations do that. If Germany were a real military power, they would immediately send such a force to Lithuania and say: We are ready.”
Scott Ritter also mentioned that the US is not better than European countries in this regard, because the US Army is scattered around the world and cannot form a large-scale deployment in Europe in a short time.
Meanwhile, the electronic warfare between Russia and Ukraine (backed by NATO) on the Ukrainian battlefield is becoming increasingly fierce. Recently, there has been information suggesting that due to Russia’s electronic interference, the precision attack capabilities of some weapons provided by the US to Ukraine have been significantly reduced, even neutralized.
A secret internal assessment report from Ukraine showed that many satellite-guided weapons used by Ukraine could not withstand Russia’s jamming technology, leading to a significant reduction in the precision attack capabilities of these munitions.
According to the report, the weapon systems affected by Russia’s electronic warfare include the US-made “Excalibur” guided artillery shells, which can be fired by M777 howitzers, and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
Since 2023, the hit rate of the “Excalibur” guided artillery shells used by the Ukrainian Army on the battlefield has significantly dropped, with the final probability of hitting the target being below 10%. As a result, the Ukrainian Army has had to stop using this expensive ammunition.
Additionally, a senior Ukrainian military officer stated that in the first year of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the Ukrainian Army used the HIMARS rocket launcher system to precisely attack Russian ammunition depots and command posts behind the front lines. However, in the second year, when Russia deployed electronic warfare systems, the combat effectiveness of HIMARS decreased significantly.
On the other side of the front line, with NATO’s assistance, Ukraine has also deployed electronic warfare systems to “deceive” Russia’s long-range attack UAVs like the Geran-2 and cruise missiles by creating fake global positioning system signals, causing the missiles and UAVs to veer off course.
On February 3, the Ukrainian Army announced that its electronic warfare system had been put into use and deployed in different directions to counter Russian missiles and drones.
Recently, the Chinese newspaper Global Times reported that NATO has provided Ukraine with many types of guided weapons, including kamikaze UAVs, assembled with Western components and software, which caused significant headaches for Russia’s frontline forces in the early stages.
Subsequently, Russian technical experts modified electronic warfare equipment, using strong signal jamming to neutralize NATO-supplied UAVs and precision-guided munitions.
Russia’s electronic jamming equipment can be deployed flexibly and cover a wide area. When Ukraine used the US-supplied HIMARS high-mobility rocket launchers to fire M31 guided rockets, Russia’s electronic warfare caused the GPS system of the rockets to malfunction at the end of their flight, preventing them from accurately hitting the targets.
The Global Times also reported that Ukraine has now adopted corresponding countermeasures, such as providing backup systems and manual control for kamikaze UAVs to conduct reconnaissance on targets before attacking.
Once they detect Russian electronic warfare equipment, they first strike with FPV UAVs. With this tactic, Ukraine’s guided weapons can effectively perform in combat. However, this is not an easy task for the Ukrainian Army.
