The US Air Force has provided electronic warfare (EW) assistance to Ukraine to support its deployment of Lockheed Martin F-16s.
Prior to the recent delivery of used F-16s to Kyiv, the USAF’s 68th EW Squadron worked with Denmark and Norway, two countries that have provided F-16s, to enhance the fighters’ EW capabilities.
The squadron’s focus is the provision of EW support to the USA and its allies.
“Both Ukraine and Russia’s militaries heavily rely on unfettered access to the electromagnetic spectrum to achieve commander objectives and both sides have continuously engaged in EW through techniques such as jamming and spoofing throughout the war to achieve spectrum superiority,” says the 68th EW Squadron.
“With the third-party transfer of F-16s by Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands to Ukraine, another EW capability is joining the fight for Ukraine.”
The unit says the Ukraine EW effort involved working with an EW system that does not exist in the US inventory, developing an understanding of it, and ultimately reprogramming it.
Though the 68th EW Squadron does no specify the EW system, at the early August induction ceremony for Ukraine’s F-16s the jets carried what appeared to be Terma’s pylon-based Electronic Warfare Management System.
A Terma video highlights that the podded system helps defend against both infrared- and radar-guided threats. The system also has a training mode to simulate missile threats.
“By working alongside partner nations, the 68th EWS was able to test and verify the unique elements required by the Ukrainians and even improve the reprogramming processes by all parties,” it says.
Critically, EW data gleaned from Ukraine will be fed back to the 68th EWS, allowing it to better understand Russian EW threats, and allow it and partners update and reprogram the EW capabilities of Ukrainian F-16s.
“When you’re talking about a near-peer conflict, you need all of your coalition partners to operate with the same playbook so you can achieve spectrum dominance,” says the director of the 68th EW Squadron.
“One F-16 with a reprogrammed pod won’t achieve air dominance alone, but it may give you a pocket of air superiority for a moment’s time to achieve an objective that has strategic importance and impact.”
Various NATO members have pledged nearly 100 F-16s to Kyiv, including 42 jets from the Netherlands, 19 from Denmark and 30 from Belgium. Norway initially committed two F-16s from its fleet but later upped the number to six.
Though the type has entered service for Ukraine, the type’s impact thus far has been muted. The aircraft in the induction ceremony carried air-to-air missiles, suggesting that the fighters will initially be used in an air defence capacity.
