Ukrainian Loitering Drones Wipe Out $400 Million in Russian EW Gear

Russian EW systems are high-value targets, now more than ever. And Ukraine just killed two.

Russian RB-301B Borisoglebsk-2. Army.mil. Public domain

In another blow to Russian military capabilities, Ukrainian bomber drones have successfully destroyed two of Russia’s more advanced and expensive electronic warfare (EW) systems: the RB-301B Borisoglebsk-2.

The confirmed kills were announced by Ukraine’s Operational Command South on April 15, accompanied by dramatic video footage showing precise aerial strikes landing squarely on the targets.

The strikes, carried out by Ukrainian bomber UAVs following reconnaissance from forward drone teams, hit the Borisoglebsk-2 systems twice, first with a direct hit, then with a follow-up "control drop" to ensure complete destruction.

The result? A combined $400 million in high-tech Russian hardware was wiped out in seconds.

Let’s talk about why this matters.

The Borisoglebsk-2: Russia’s EW Crown Jewel

Each Borisoglebsk-2 complex comes with a price tag of roughly $200 million. That kind of money doesn’t just buy armored trucks and antennas, it buys a sophisticated, mobile electronic warfare platform designed to control and dominate the electromagnetic spectrum.

The system consists of a mobile command post, operated by a four-person crew, and up to nine specialized vehicles mounted on MT-LB tracked chassis. These are outfitted with jamming and signals intelligence tools like the R-378BMV, R-330BMV, R-934BMV, and R-325UMV.

What can it do? In short, the Borisoglebsk-2 disrupts satellite communications, jams high and very-high frequency (HF/VHF) radios, and blinds enemy drones and guided munitions by severing their link to GPS. It can deploy in just 15 minutes, drawing power from its onboard diesel generators or even plugging into local civilian electrical grids.

Its job on the battlefield is to create electromagnetic chaos, scrambling signals, blinding radars, and severing battlefield coordination. In theory, it makes modern command and control impossible for adversaries.

But as Ukraine just proved, no amount of jamming protects you from a well-aimed bomb.

Before the Ukraine War, electronic warfare was one of those obscure career fields in the military where you dreaded going home on leave and meeting your non-military friends, because explaining to them what you do in the military typically made their eyes gloss over.

Now, EW is the belle of the ball.

Electronic Warfare, or EW, is the shadow war that no one sees, yet it affects everything. It is the invisible artillery barrage that shapes the outcome of battles before the first shell lands. In the simplest terms, EW is the use of the electromagnetic spectrum—radio waves, radar, GPS signals, and satellite comms, as a weapon. Control that spectrum, and you control the fight.

My job in the Air Force was radar surveillance and signals intelligence – a close cousin to EW.

But for the uninitiated, EW typically breaks down into three primary functions:

Electronic Attack (EA): This is the offensive side of EW. It includes jamming, spoofing, and high-power microwave attacks. The goal is to disrupt or disable enemy sensors and communications. In Ukraine, this means cutting off drone video feeds, confusing GPS-guided munitions, and blinding radars. Think of it as throwing sand into the gears of a well-oiled machine.

Electronic Protection (EP): This is defensive EW; countermeasures designed to shield friendly systems from the chaos. It includes encryption, frequency hopping, signal shielding, and smart signal filtering. It’s the reason Ukrainian drones are still flying when Russian jammers are lighting up the map like a Christmas tree.

Electronic Support (ES): This is the intelligence arm of EW. ES involves intercepting enemy communications, triangulating the origin of radar pings, or eavesdropping on battlefield frequencies. It’s how you find the jammer that’s blinding your drone, or the command post coordinating artillery.

But why does EW matter so much in Ukraine?

Because this is the first full-scale war between two industrialized nations in decades, and both sides are saturated with EW equipment. From static ground-based jammers to mobile interference platforms like the Borisoglebsk-2, to handheld signal disruptors used by infantry, the electromagnetic spectrum has become one of the most hotly contested arenas of the war.

And here’s the dirty truth: electronic warfare in Ukraine is absolutely brutal.

This isn't a clean laboratory environment where jammers and drones politely play by the rules. It's a Darwinian spectrum knife fight, an unrelenting contest where both sides are trying to blind, deafen, and confuse each other in real time.

Ukrainian drone operators report regular GPS spoofing and total signal blackouts near Russian EW zones, especially in eastern Ukraine. Russia’s most infamous jammers, like the Zhitel, Krasukha, and Tirada, are capable of cutting drone control links, jamming Starlink signals, and even interfering with aircraft navigation systems.

Russian forces, meanwhile, are getting hit with their own medicine. Ukraine, backed by NATO-grade EW tech and battlefield improvisation, has been jamming Russian drone operations, hacking into communications, and using EW data to geolocate and destroy Russian positions. Ukrainian EW crews have developed fast, modular systems that fit into pickup trucks and can redeploy in minutes, perfect for a war defined by movement and asymmetry.

Russian RB-301B Borisoglebsk-2. Army.mil. Public domain

The result? EW in Ukraine is not just bad—it’s miserable for operators, especially drone pilots. Units on both sides report drones falling out of the sky, missile strikes missing by miles, and communication blackouts at the worst possible moments.

In many areas of the front, it’s not about who has the better rifle, it’s about who still has a functioning signal.

This is why Ukraine's destruction of two Borisoglebsk-2 systems matters. It isn’t just knocking out fancy gear, it’s reclaiming a chunk of the spectrum. It’s allowing Ukrainian drones to fly straighter, artillery to hit harder, and command centers to coordinate faster.

In short, electronic warfare is no longer the supporting act. In Ukraine, it's the headliner. And every jammed signal, every intercepted call, and every destroyed jammer is shaping the war as much as any tank or HIMARS ever could.

In fact, drone ops in Ukraine have become so hairy that Ukrainian soldiers are jamming all drones in the area if they can’t verify a drone as friendly. Why take the risk?

According to Dimko Zhluktenko, a drone operator with Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, soldiers are so overwhelmed by the sheer number of drones overhead, and the striking similarity between Russian and Ukrainian models, that they’re defaulting to jamming every signal in sight.

Zhluktenko explained, “Not everyone out here is a tech wizard. You might have a guy in a trench who’s never even used a smartphone, and now he’s supposed to distinguish between a Russian FPV drone and a Ukrainian one. That’s an impossible task in a live-fire scenario.”

When seconds count, and a buzzing drone appears on the horizon, soldiers aren’t flipping through frequency charts, they’re slamming the ‘jam all’ button and hoping for the best.

“You see a drone coming at you, and you have no idea who sent it,” Zhluktenko said. “Your instinct is to kill the signal before it kills you. And that leads to friendly drones falling from the sky.” In a war where situational awareness is life or death, this kind of confusion carries a heavy price.

Ironically, Russia’s relative lack of variety in drone types may be working in its favor. Zhluktenko noted that Russian forces tend to field a limited lineup of UAVs, making them easier to visually and electronically identify. Ukraine, by contrast, has a patchwork of drone models from multiple manufacturers and DIY sources, making the identification game exponentially harder.

“When they fly by in combat conditions,” Zhluktenko said, “they all sound the same, look the same, and share the same radio signatures. It’s like trying to spot your Uber in a fleet of identical black sedans during a thunderstorm.”

Combat footage from the front shows the chaos in real time: dozens of drones zipping through the air while soldiers bark out desperate questions like “Is that one of ours?” or “What’s it doing over our heads?” In one case, a US veteran fighting for Ukraine said he couldn’t identify a drone until it dropped a grenade, at which point the answer was painfully obvious, and he started sprinting.

Another Ukrainian drone operator told Business Insider that, in the confusion, infantry units have resorted to simply firing at everything airborne, an understandable impulse, but one that risks downing their own assets or wasting precious ammunition.

While some cutting-edge systems, like fiber-optic guided drones and AI-powered platforms, are largely immune to jamming, the vast majority of UAVs in this conflict are still vulnerable. As a result, both sides have escalated their use of electronic warfare systems to disrupt enemy drones. It's a war within the war: signals vs. signals, noise vs. precision.

The need for better drone identification protocols and training is obvious. In a war being fought in the air as much as on the ground, recognizing your own hardware could mean the difference between mission success and another self-inflicted loss.

Bottom line: until every grunt in a trench is given an instant drone ID system, or the skies clear up, which they won’t, expect the jammers to keep buzzing, the drones to keep falling, and the confusion to remain very, very real.

Back to the Borisoglebsk-2.

Destroying two Borisoglebsk-2 complexes is more than just a tactical win. It removes Russia’s ability to dominate the electromagnetic environment in a given sector, giving Ukrainian forces room to maneuver, communicate, and strike with greater precision.

Imagine a HIMARS strike team trying to hit a moving target while their GPS feed is being scrambled. Now imagine that the jammer is gone. That’s the difference these strikes make.

It also sends a signal that no EW asset is safe. Not in occupied Crimea, not in Luhansk, and not behind the front line. Ukrainian drones have matured into precision tools capable of detecting, locating, and annihilating high-value enemy systems without needing a massive strike package or air superiority.

The implication is chilling for Russia: your $200 million EW fortress can be turned into scrap by a $50,000 drone and a skilled pilot watching from miles away.

Earlier this month, Ukraine also confirmed the destruction of several Russian Buk air defense systems using similar tactics. Together, these actions signal a turning point, not only in battlefield tempo but in Ukraine’s growing ability to surgically remove Russia’s technological edge.

The age of European asymmetric warfare isn’t coming. It’s here. And for Russian EW crews on the battlefield, that buzzing sound overhead isn’t just a drone. It’s a warning.

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