Ukrainian Defense Forces launched a reportedly effective airstrike on the stronghold of the russian occupation forces they had set up in a hospital in the city of Vovchansk, Kharkiv region. Footage of this attack has appeared in open access.
The nature of this strike suggests that some Western precision-guided air bombs adapted for Soviet aircraft could have been used for this mission, such as ground-launched GLSDB or airdropped JDAM-ER or AASM Hammer.
Read more: Ukrainian Border Guards Showcase Containment of Enemy Near Vovchansk, Kharkiv Oblast (Video)
About 5km into Ukraine, the Russian army took over this hospital as a base, filling it with dozens of gopnik savages from the far reaches of Putin's hellscape.So Ukraine turned them into wormfood. Vovchansk pic.twitter.com/2ZYutyB9kI— Jay in Kyiv (@JayinKyiv) May 18, 2024
In the video, four unidentified munitions hit the building with russian forces inside — which comes out inconsistent with earlier statements about certain weapons of this class proving ineffective in Ukraine, specifically due to the russian hindering their guidance electronics. Particularly, the U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William LaPlante admitted a certain ground-launched weapon showed underwhelming performance, with the option matching this description the closest being the GLSDB.
Military media analysts also assessed that russian EW interference was so powerful and widely used that it basically made smart weapons relying on precise satellite navigation to miss their target. The affected category includes GLSDB, JDAM-ER and a few types of special 155mm artillery ammunition.
Now with that in mind, note that according to some Western media, the russian attackers at the initial phase of their offensive in the Kharkiv region actively deployed EW systems to put down the Command and Control (C2) framework of Ukrainian troops, which is based on Starlink satellite communication terminals.
Against this backdrop, the very fact of a successful attack with precision-guided munitions on the enemy encamped in Vovchansk just doesn't add up, which indicates that in reality, the russian EW capabilities are not that absolute.
In this case, two options are equally possible. Either russians could not provide their units carrying out the offense in the Vovchansk axis with a sufficient number of EW equipment, or the Ukrainian in cooperation with Western engineers took measures to preserve the hit accuracy of precision-guided munitions supplied by the West in the conditions of active EW interference — in general or if particular conditions are met.
Earlier, Defense Express reported that the United States is preparing a special type of JDAM-ER aerial munitions for Ukraine equipped with a seeker homing in on electronic warfare devices that should be able to help the situation. Also, we dedicated an in-depth article about why the Pentagon can rest assured knowing GLSDB proved ineffective in Ukraine's modern war realities, while the same cannot be said of its partners operating this weapon.
Read more: Special JDAM-ER with Anti-EW Homing Head are Prepared to Transfer from U.S. to Ukraine
