It appears that heavy metal music has once again aided those in need – this time through Russian radio communications amidst their invasion of Ukraine.
There have been stories coming out of the area of Russian troops resorting to commercial walkie-talkies with Ukrainians intercepting their frequencies. And some of them are metalheads.
Now, understandably this may not sound tremendously serious or catastrophic in any way, but it certainly assists in the poor communication over Russian radio, causing a lack of co-ordination, ambushes and even a loss of higher ranking Russian officers.
According to Stuff, “modern military-grade radios encrypt signals and change the frequency on which they operate many times a second, making their transmissions impossible to intercept. But many Russian forces are communicating on unencrypted high-frequency (HF) channels that allow anyone with a ham radio to not only listen, but also interfere.”
That being said, the Russian military do have some modern tech in the form of Azart radios, which have built-in encryption and can operate on much higher frequencies since in 2012.
Thomas Withington, a military analyst, says that the Azart system seems adequate, if inferior to the equipment used by Nato forces. But there just simply are not enough radios to go disperse equally.
This leaves Ukrainians to continue bludgeon the enemy with spam in the form of glorious, brutal heavy metal.
There are multiple reports of frequencies used by the Russian forces of them being bombarded with heavy-metal music or other transmissions from Ukrainian operators, at times, even during combat.
It’s also estimated that radio problems may also be indirectly killing Russian generals and other commanders. The lack of communication from units leading the advance pushes Russian senior officers to proceed forward which makes them easier targets.
Radios may be less lethal than weapons, but Russia’s failure to invest in its communications may be a grave mistake.
And Ukrainians are known to really dig their heavy metal. And they know how to use it.
Right JINJER?
Sources: NY TIMES and The Economist
Yes, the Ukrainian military jams Russian radio communications with heavy metal music.
Guerilla Radio has a couple of suggestions making such a playlist even more enjoyable for defeated Russian forces leaving the Kyiv area:https://t.co/dJH1fYmAaL— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) March 30, 2022