Ukraine's Elite 'Night Watch' Unit Leverages Electronic Warfare Against Russian Missiles

An unseen electronic conflict is at the heart of the Russia-Ukraine war, with both sides engaging in an unprecedented scale of communication signal attacks and defenses. This escalating spectrum warfare has spurred intense development of new technologies, which the U.S. military is now working to match.

Earlier this year, two Russian ballistic missiles traveling at hypersonic speeds were reportedly intercepted by an elite Ukrainian unit, 'Night Watch,' using radio signals. The missiles were subsequently diverted and crashed into the Dnipro River. Around the same time, navigation applications on several phones in Kyiv displayed users as being in Peru, a side effect of the GPS spoofing employed by Night Watch's Lima system, according to the unit.

The Pentagon is reportedly investing heavily in new technologies to counter or replicate the capabilities of systems like Lima. "This is a new era of spectrum warfare," Lt. Col. Matt Sherburne, the U.S. Army’s chief for electronic warfare capabilities development, told The Wall Street Journal. While electronic warfare (EW) is not new, it had largely fallen out of focus in the West after the Cold War until Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Rise of Spectrum Warfare

Spectrum warfare, also known as electronic warfare, involves locating or disrupting the frequencies used by adversaries or shielding one's own signals from interference. This can include broadcasting signals to drown out, confuse, or replace an opponent's communications. Ukraine’s Night Watch division claims its Lima system can blast signals over a 120-mile range to reroute drones, missiles, and guided bombs. The unit stated that Lima was used to redirect the ballistic missiles that fell into the Dnipro by filling the air with spoofed satellite navigation signals, causing the weapons to veer off course.

Lima has become an increasingly critical component of Ukraine's air defense, especially as Moscow intensifies long-range strikes and Ukraine faces shortages of expensive interceptor missiles. In November, Night Watch reportedly intercepted a Kinzhal hypersonic missile, once described as invincible by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Night Watch officers explained that Lima projected a false navigation signal at the missile, causing it to change direction and break apart under its own extreme speed.

Ukraine does not disclose the exact frequency with which EW, as opposed to in-flight failures, is responsible for downing missiles and drones. Distinguishing between the two can be difficult, and electronic interference can sometimes unintentionally divert targets toward civilian areas or interfere with Ukraine's own drone operations. Despite these challenges, the effectiveness of EW is evident. One officer from Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces reported that Lima thwarts 70% to 95% of radio-controlled drones detected in his team's sector. Ukrainian manufacturer Phantom Defence claims its systems have detected over 11,500 Russian drones in the past year, neutralizing about 65%.

Ukrainian companies like December1 have seen a surge in demand for their EW systems. December1 was producing around 400 Damba systems monthly in July 2025, a figure that has since risen to approximately 1,000 and is projected to reach 2,000, according to the company’s CEO.

A Renewed Focus on Electronic Warfare

The vulnerability of radio signals has been exploited in conflicts for over a century, dating back to early 20th-century experiments by the British Royal Navy. During World War II, both the UK and Germany engaged in jamming and spoofing aerial navigation signals. However, as military communications and radar technology advanced during the Cold War, so did the methods to disrupt them.

Following the Cold War, the Pentagon reduced its investment in electronic warfare capabilities, facing less technologically advanced adversaries in Afghanistan and Iraq. U.S. officials view Putin's invasion of Ukraine as a significant wake-up call. Joshua Ransford, a former U.S. Marine who later joined the international legion of Ukraine's armed forces, noted that his equipment became largely obsolete due to Russian jamming of GPS signals and radio frequencies upon his arrival.

In today's interconnected environment, jammers have a wide range of targets, including mobile phones, satellite navigation systems, guided weapons, drones, and traditional radio and radar. By 2022, electronic warfare was identified as one of the Pentagon's top three procurement priorities, alongside long-range munitions and affordable drone and missile defense technologies.

China is also reportedly expanding its EW capabilities, with experts indicating the establishment of EW units on man-made islands in the South China Sea. As NATO increases defense spending, spectrum warfare has become a lucrative sector for Western defense companies.

The Ongoing Technological Race

The development of technology to evade jammers is equally intense. Some ships communicate via lasers, which are difficult to intercept, while both Russia and Ukraine are using fiber-optic cables to connect drones directly to operators. Both sides are also employing artificial intelligence-enabled drones capable of identifying and destroying targets without continuous operator input.

However, lasers have limitations in range and weather dependency, and fiber-optic drones are slower and less maneuverable. AI-guided drones still face challenges in reliably navigating terrain over long distances autonomously.

Ukraine's Night Watch unit actively analyzes downed Russian targets to develop new jamming techniques. In late 2024, the unit discovered that Russian drones and missiles were using Chinese-made Controlled Reception Pattern Antennas, which can detect the source of jamming signals and use algorithms to evade them. This prompted Night Watch and Cascade Systems, the maker of Lima, to develop Lima Quant, which uses its own algorithms to counter such antennas. In response, Russia reportedly increased the number of these antennas on its systems.

While EW is not a complete substitute for advanced missile defense systems like the Patriot, it is significantly more affordable and readily available. A single Lima unit costs approximately £51,000 to produce, and an estimated 30 to 100 units could protect a major city, costing around £4 million—comparable to the cost of a single Patriot PAC-3 missile. Colonel Josh Koslov, the U.S. Air Force’s director of non-kinetic operations, stated, "If you are not winning in the spectrum, you are going to lose the war."