In a move that could significantly bolster India’s electronic warfare capabilities, Russia has reportedly offered to supply the Indian Armed Forces with the Krasukha-2, a formidable electronic warfare (EW) system designed to blind the "eyes" of enemy air power.
This proposal highlights a strategic shift in modern defence planning, moving beyond reliance solely on kinetic interceptors (missiles) toward layered, non-kinetic countermeasures that neutralize threats before they can engage.
The Electronic "Sniper" Against AWACS
Unlike general-purpose jamming equipment that floods a wide area with noise, the Krasukha-2 is engineered as a precision instrument—often described as an electronic "sniper."Its primary purpose is to degrade and deny the effectiveness of Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS).
Open-source intelligence indicates that the system is optimized to jam S-band radars, the frequency range typically utilized by AWACS platforms to survey vast airspaces and direct combat operations.
The system boasts an operational range of up to 250 kilometres, allowing it to neutralize hostile airborne surveillance assets from deep within friendly territory.
By mounting the system on a highly mobile BAZ-6910-022 8x8 heavy truck chassis, the unit can be rapidly deployed and relocated to avoid counter-battery fire, with setup times reportedly as short as 20 minutes.
Disrupting the Enemy's Command Chain
From an operational standpoint, the Krasukha-2 strikes at the adversary's situational awareness.By severing the link between AWACS aircraft and their fighter fleets, the system degrades the enemy's ability to coordinate aerial attacks or manage complex air battles.
This neutralization occurs long before any physical shots are exchanged, effectively blinding the opposing force's command structure.
Furthermore, the system’s capabilities extend to jamming the onboard radar seekers of incoming guided missiles.
Rather than destroying these missiles with hard-kill interceptors, the Krasukha-2 employs a "soft-kill" mechanism.
It feeds deceptive signals to the missile's guidance system, redirecting it toward false targets and causing it to miss its intended objective.
This method preserves expensive interceptor missiles for other threats and enhances the survivability of defended sites during saturation attacks.
The "Smoke Screen" for the S-400
Russian military doctrine frequently integrates the Krasukha-2 with long-range air defence batteries, such as the S-400 Triumf.In this tactical pairing, the S-400 acts as the "spear and shield"—detecting and destroying physical targets—while the Krasukha-2 functions as an electronic "smoke screen."
By denying AWACS and surveillance radars a clear picture of the battlefield, the EW system prevents the enemy from mapping the location of air defence radars and launchers.
Russian planners describe the effect as creating an electronic "black hole" around high-value assets, rendering them invisible to hostile sensors that rely on radar returns to coordinate precision strikes.
Phantom Formations and Psychological Warfare
One of the system's most sophisticated features is its ability to generate "false target seduction" signals. The Krasukha-2 can manipulate enemy radar displays to show entire formations of aircraft that do not exist.For instance, a hostile pilot or AWACS operator might perceive a squadron of ten incoming jets on their screens when the sky is technically empty.
Conversely, the system can mask the presence of real aircraft, effectively erasing them from enemy radar scopes. This capability inflicts severe psychological and tactical disruption, forcing adversaries to waste critical sortie time chasing phantoms and causing them to doubt the reliability of their own instruments.
In a modern battlefield dominated by networked sensors and satellite surveillance, the capacity to selectively deny information and create fog of war is proving to be as decisive as traditional air superiority.
