Russia has increased their domestic production of Shahed type drones which has led to an increase of attacks in Ukraine.
However, “Ukrainian electronic warfare (EW) interference” is allowing their forces to respond more effectively to Russian strikes, according to the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
The ISW said, “It has become more common for Russian forces to launch between 80 to 100 (or more) Shahed and decoy drones as part of their larger strike packages.
“Russian forces most likely use large numbers of Shahed-type drones and decoy drones to detect and overwhelm Ukrainian air defense and mobile fire groups; Russian forces most frequently launch Shaheds alongside more limited numbers of cruise and ballistic missiles.”
The ISW analysts said that Ukraine is responding to the increased number of drones being launched in the same manner.
The analysts said, “The number of Shahed or decoy drones that are reportedly ‘lost’ (do not reach their intended targets) due to Ukrainian electronic warfare (EW) interference increased significantly over the course of October and November 2024”
Ukraine’s electronic warfare interference is adding more of a burden on the joint Russian-Belarusian air defence umbrella which is having an impact on the strike packages.
The ISW added, “Thirty-eight Russian Shahed drones entered Belarusian airspace on November 24 and 25 – a record number of Russian drones violating Belarusian airspace.
“Belarus scrambled jets to respond to the airspace violation—suggesting that Belarus was unprepared to receive errant Russian drones and that Russia had not anticipated the impacts of Ukrainian interference or communicated them to Belarus in advance.”
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