MOSCOW. March 1 (Interfax) - The Russian Armed Forces have received over 1,000 items of electronic warfare (EW) equipment over the past three years, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.
"The Armed Forces have received over 1,000 items of EW equipment over the past three years, including compact jamming transmitters operating absolutely autonomously," Shoigu said at a Defense Ministry board meeting on Friday.
Russian designers have developed 19 cutting-edge EW devices, including airborne ones, taking into account possible ways that systems of controlling forces and weapons are expected to develop in foreign armies, Shoigu said.
"The delivery of this equipment to the Armed Forces has enabled them to significantly expand the variety of the potential enemy's electronic devices that can be jammed and increase its range 3.5 times," Shoigu said.
Many of modern Russian EW systems have no analogues in the world, he said.
The massive rearmament of the Armed Forces with new EW systems has required more intensive training, and they have conducted over 200 special tactical and command-post exercises, including 15 brigade-level ones, in the past three years, Shoigu said.
The largest of these exercises in terms of the personnel, weapons, and hardware involved were special exercises of EW forces last August, Shoigu said.
The troops practiced the use of EW systems by joint force groups, actions to overcome air defense systems, and the repelling of massive airstrikes by a simulated enemy, he said.
"These EW systems have confirmed their high efficiency in combat conditions, including in the Syrian Arab Republic. Another positive factor that needs to be mentioned is that the combat capability of the EW forces was enhanced not through increasing their size but through improving the equipment's performance and making it multifunctional," Shoigu said.