The Leer-3 electronic warfare complex was announced by Russia to have played a very good role in the conflict in Ukraine. In the opposite direction, Kyiv has not confirmed this.
The Russian Defense Ministry has released images of the operation of the electronic warfare complex (EW) Leer-3 in Ukraine. The system is transported by unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and its main purpose is to disrupt GSM communications.
Orlan-10 reconnaissance UAV is used with this EW complex. Leer-3 is a GSM communication jammer, used to intercept mobile phone networks. This electronic warfare system can send text messages, also known as short message services, to enemy soldiers’ phones.
Leer-3 will detect mass crowds of mobile phone subscribers to a given network in real-time. Since the start of hostilities, Ukraine has skillfully moved and hidden its clusters of GSM terminals in forests, and river beds.
The Leer-3 suppressor will search for the transmitters of the said device. After determining the position, the coordinate data is immediately sent to the headquarters of the nearest mobile electronic warfare unit.
This department makes decisions about what to do with the detected GSM clusters and terminals. There are two possibilities – jamming or “cracking” them to transmit short messages. Russia does not hide its use of “psychological pressure” on both Ukrainian soldiers and residents.
The SMS messages sent often read “Ukrainian Armed Forces are preparing a provocation in your city. Don’t leave the house. Take care of yourself and your loved ones.”
The use of Orlan-10 together with Leer-3 shows that the Russian Armed Forces are trying to jam communications in critical areas. In this way, the effectiveness of the Ukrainian command, as well as the management of the army and weapons systems will be reduced.
But currently, there is no information on how successful this EW system will be. The “success” according to the announcement of Leer-3 came only from Russian channels, there was no confirmation of its effectiveness from the Ukrainian side.
According to the introduction, the Leer-3 complex includes equipment mounted on a KamAZ truck and 2-3 drones with a crew of 4. This system specializes in GSM networks, which can accurately identify targets through the Orlan-10 UAV.
Orlan-10 light reconnaissance drone belonging to the Leer-3 complex has a range of 120 km, a working time in the air of 10 hours, a ceiling of 5 km, a maximum speed of 150 km / h, cruising speed of 80 km/h.
The Orlan-10 can carry a variety of weapons, depending on the specific mission it can perform actions including:
– Prevent mobile communication, simulate the operation of a mobile base station within GSM 900, 1800, 2000, 2500 and send fake messages, and detect phones, and tablets.
– Conduct reconnaissance, plot the location of subscriber points on the digital map, and transmit data about the location of subscriber points to artillery batteries for sortie.
Russia said that it has conducted tests of the RB-341V Leer-3 complex in combat conditions in Syria and Karabakh, where it has fully confirmed its characteristics.
