Soldiers from U.S. Army Alpha Company, 2-3 Inf, 3-2 SBCT, patrol a village with Afghan forces at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California, U.S. on Aug. 13, 2011.
Courtesy Ryan Hallock/US Army/Handout via REUTERS
Western militaries are studying and learning a lot from watching the war in Ukraine.One area of interest is the way that cellphones play a role on the battlefield.Recent training included an usual drill where civilians posted photos to fake social media for the “enemy” to see, according to a new report.
Two difficult years of all-out war between Russia and Ukraine has given Western militaries a lot to think about as the brutal fighting upends some previously held assumptions about the dangers and demands of modern combat and underscores the need for new processes.
For the US, this war has further emphasized the need to shift its thinking away from the post-9/11 conflicts in the Middle East toward readiness for the possibility of great-power conflict against a near-peer adversary like Russia or China. It has also taught American forces important lessons about the power and risks of technology both on and off the battlefield.
The use of cellphones in Ukraine has allowed images and videos of the war to spread around the world at record speed, advancing narratives and shaping its understanding of the war. But these devices have also proven to be problematic, even deadly, assets for soldiers that can give away their locations, by data transmission or other means.
Though not necessarily a new realization, US military leaders are taking this issue into account as they prepare American forces for future conflicts, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
At an Army training center in California commanders are warning soldiers that their electronic gear could potentially be targeted by the enemy and are instructing them to avoid using their phones in training areas.
Such behavior has on more than one occasion led to deadly consequences in Ukraine. At the very end of 2022, for example, Kyiv’s forces launched a precision strike against Russian positions in the occupied Donbas region after pinpointing the location using cellular data. The devastating attack killed scores of Moscow’s troops.
A soldier sits and holds a telephone near Soledar, in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on Dec. 28, 2022.
Viktor Fridshon/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
Army Maj. Gen. Curtis Taylor told the Post that the US military’s “addiction to cellphones” is a threat and compared it to when soldiers would smoke cigarettes on the front lines during World War II. The small, orange light would give away locations to the enemy.
“This is the new cigarette in the foxhole,” Taylor said.
Cellphone usage by soldiers is not the only threat, though. Data from civilian devices — like a photo or video of a soldier’s position — could be equally dangerous and reveal important information to the enemy. Throughout the Ukraine war, civilians have regularly recorded and relayed enemy troop movements.
Out in California, the military is training for this. Individuals tasked with portraying civilians took photos and videos of soldiers’ locations and their equipment in a recent drill. The imagery was then uploaded to a fake social media site called Fakebook, and troops role-playing as the enemy used the data to stage attacks, the Post reported.
Cellphone usage is just one space where the US military is tinkering with its approach to warfighting. Other areas of focus that have emerged include the threat of small drones and efficacy of precision weapons in the face of electronic warfare challenges.
Beyond the US, other Western militaries — especially those on NATO’s front lines in the east — are watching closely and making their own adjustments to their respective force postures.
A Lithuanian defense official recently told Business Insider’s Sinéad Baker that the Baltic country is purchasing tanks after watching how armor has played out in Ukraine.