Ukraine is having to conserve its limited air defense missiles and has increasingly relied on its homegrown electronic warfare system, Lima, to deflect Russian drones and missiles, writes Politico.
One of the developers of Lima told Politico how the system works, which jams the navigation systems of missiles and drones. Unlike traditional air defense systems that destroy incoming targets by shooting them down with missiles, Lima jams satellite navigation signals, causing Russian weapons to deviate from their course. The system has become a crucial layer in Ukraine’s air defense architecture as Russia has stepped up its long-range missile strikes and Kiev lacks interceptors.
Lima, developed by Cascade Systems, a Ukrainian defense startup registered in the US, creates powerful interference fields that disrupt satellite navigation. If satellite signals are blocked, Russian long-range missiles can continue to move using inertial navigation systems, but their accuracy deviates by about two kilometers for every hundred kilometers, which means they are much less likely to hit their target. Alchemist, the developer of Lima and head of the electronic warfare unit Night Watch, said that when the system is turned on, the missiles deviate even more from their target. “In addition to jamming the navigation, we use spoofing attacks and shift the coordinates by several kilometers. We can make their missiles fall into the fields instead of hitting their targets,” Alchemist explained.
The appeal of the system lies partly in its range and cost. Unlike other tactical jammers, Lima can cover a wide area, protecting critical infrastructure. Each unit costs about 58,000 euros, and Cascade Systems estimates that 30 to 100 Lima units are needed to protect a large city, which would cost about five million euros. This is the same as the cost of one PAC-3 missile from the Patriot air defense system. The company has already produced more than 400 Lima systems. The army began using them in July 2024, and
in October 2025, Ukrainians began using Lima to protect civilian infrastructure.
According to Cascade Systems, Lima systems have disrupted the paths of more than 20,500 Shaded drones over the past 18 months and have diverted dozens of ballistic and cruise missiles from their targets. The latest versions of the system are also capable of jamming signals from long-range weapons, including ballistic missiles.
Lima modifies the navigation signals used by the Russians, giving missiles and drones false coordinates. The developers say that in some attacks, the weapons have been redirected, making them “think” that they are in Peru.
The system can also create a “dead zone,” in which Russian drones lose their signal. Alchemist explained that if Lima were to create a large enough zone, missiles would not even hit a city, but would be sent to an open field.
True, relying solely on electronic warfare carries a certain risk. The deflected drones and missiles still fall somewhere, causing damage. With missiles, the incoming target is destroyed in the air. Although the debris still reaches the ground, the damage caused is usually less.
Electronic warfare is a never-ending competition of signals and mathematics. Every time Ukraine develops a more powerful system, the Russians adapt their weapons and receivers.
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