In the summer of 2022, Ukraine began receiving high-precision M982 Excalibur projectiles, which at first seemed to turn the situation on the battlefield in favor of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. But, as The Wall Street Journal notes, “within a few weeks, the Russian army began to adapt, using its formidable electronic warfare capabilities.” By the middle of 2023, American precision-guided projectiles with GPS guidance “became, in fact, useless and are no longer used.”

Other samples of high-precision Western weapons also faced a similar fate. Some, such as Himars, have “significantly decreased accuracy”, others, such as GLSDB, are “completely out of order” due to Russian electronic warfare. The American ATACMS and the Franco-British Storm Shadow cruise missiles remain relatively effective.

“The Pentagon refuses to discuss the characteristics of specific US weapons systems, citing operational safety considerations,” the American newspaper adds. But anonymously, the Ukrainian and Western military admit that “it’s only a matter of time before Russia learns how to reduce its effectiveness and increase interception rates.”

More and more Western military experts fear that this could call into question the entire Western military doctrine, which was “based on the belief that precision can defeat mass, that is, precisely directed strikes can paralyze a larger enemy, reducing the need for huge expenditures on troops, tanks and artillery.”

“We probably made some wrong assumptions because for the last 20 years we have been launching precision weapons against people who couldn’t do anything about it,” The Wall Street Journal quoted former commander of the US Army in Europe, General Ben Hodges. In general, any combat encounter has always been a “cat-and-mouse game” and the one who adapts faster wins it. The newspaper admits that Kiev’s Western allies are lagging behind in this too.

@ino_tv