Borisoglebsk 2

Planes > Weapons

Borisoglebsk 2 is a Russian, MT-LB ground vehicle mounted, multi-functional electronic warfare (EW) weapon system it was developed by Sozvezdie over a six year period, beginning in 2004. Starting in February 2015, it has been manufactured and delivered by UIMC to the Russian armed forces. It is designed to disrupt communications and GPS systems. Borisoglebsk 2 achieved initial operating capability in 2010, but was not ordered and delivered to Russian military until February 2015. Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported that Borisoglebsk 2 was the core system for electronic warfare in the Russian Army, controlling four types of jamming units from a single point.

Experimentation and testing were conducted after the first deliveries to the Russian armed forces. The system was in active use by the summer of 2015, in eastern Ukraine. It has been claimed that the system has caused difficulties for NATO, supposedly defeating GPS and mobile telephony systems in parts of that country. The United States military commander in Europe, general Frederick Hodges stated to Defense News, that Russia is conducting electronic warfare in eastern Ukraine that even NATO would have difficulties to resist, but did not mention Borisoglebsk 2. US advisers sent to Ukraine have learned about Russian electronic warfare from the Ukrainian Army, though Ukraine never has had access to this new EW-technology. The American advicers are nevertheless impressed even with earlier Russian EW-technology in the hands of the Ukranian Army.

Compared to previous generation complexes, the “Borisoglebsk 2” has a wider range of radio surveillance and suppression, hi-speed frequency scanning, a longer operative range and a higher precision of spatial localization of radio wave emission sources.

Svenska Dagbladet claimed that the United States and NATO are worried that the F-35 fighter aircraft may not stand up against new Russian EW systems. Borisoglebsk 2 was given as an example of a new Russian system, but not directly compared to the F-35.

As of August 2015, ten sets of this system have been delivered to the Russian armed forces with another 14 sets follow. According to Rostec, Russia plans to deploy them along the Russian borders "from Kaliningrad to Blagoveshchensk".

Moscow has augmented its military presence in Syria and Iraq with two state-of-the-art weapons: Ilyushin-20 (IL-20 Coot) surveillance planes in both countries and, nine Borisoglebsk 2 electronic warfare systems atop a Syria peak. Both are among the most sophisticated of their kind. Last week, after Baghdad gave Moscow permission to use its Al Taqaddum air base, the Russian spy plane first sighted in Syria was spotted in Iraq.