Music vs. Missiles: How Ukraine’s 'Lima' Jammer Claims to Spoof and Down Kinzhal Hypersonics

Ukraine's electronic-warfare group Night Watch says it has developed a jammer nicknamed "Lima" that can spoof satellite guidance on Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missiles by replacing navigation signals with a broadcast of the song "Our Father is Bandera." The team claims the technique caused 19 Kinzhals to fail within a two‑week period.

How the Lima system is said to work

According to Night Watch, many Kinzhal and other guided munitions rely on GLONASS, Russia's satellite navigation system, to find targets. Lima reportedly jams incoming GLONASS signals and injects a counterfeit position and a musical transmission. The spoofed signal makes the missile believe it is over Lima, Peru, prompting an abrupt course correction.

Why the spoof might destabilize a hypersonic weapon

Night Watch says the sudden commanded manoeuvre at hypersonic speeds — more than 4,000 mph (≈6,400 km/h) — places extreme stress on the missile's airframe and control surfaces. They add that Kinzhal receivers use an older controlled reception pattern antenna (CRPA) design that is vulnerable to jamming and spoofing. The group describes cases in which missiles attempting rapid course changes suffered structural failure and broke apart.

Claims, context and caveats

The Lima technique and the figures quoted come from Night Watch and have not been independently verified in all cases. Electronic warfare outcomes vary with many factors: distance, signal strength, missile firmware and hardware variants, and the presence of other guidance inputs. Separately, some Kinzhal missiles have been intercepted by air-defence systems since the conflict began, but such systems are limited in number and availability.

Russian responses and potential countermeasures

Night Watch says Russia is trying to harden missiles by increasing the number of receivers on board — in some cases doubling them — to reduce vulnerability to jamming. The group maintains, however, that such changes will not eliminate the risk from sophisticated spoofing methods.

Strategic significance

If the claims are accurate and scalable, spoofing satellite guidance would represent a low-cost way to reduce the effectiveness of expensive, high-speed missiles. That said, independent verification and technical analysis are required to assess the reliability and limits of the Lima method across different missile types and operating conditions.

Note: The operational details and numbers are reported by Night Watch and reflect the group's account of events. Independent confirmation is limited; readers should treat specific tallies and technical claims as reported assertions rather than fully verified facts.