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posted by janrinok on Thursday August 16 2018, @02:43PM   Printer-friendly
from the tracking-device-which-also-happens-to-make-calls dept.

Soldiers stupid and disobedient enough to carry their own tracking devices into the field on operations are teaching their units harsh lessons when entering combat. The Association of the United States Army, the U.S. Army's professional association and lobbying group, has an article on how mobile phones are used against soldiers carrying them in the field. This includes, but is not limited to, psychological operations, artillery strikes, monitoring, or all three at once. Given the lax discipline about leaving the mobile phones behind, the attacks built on phone info have been increasingly successful both physically and mentally.

[Ed Note: The second link details how Russian backed separatists are using advanced EW and psyops tactics against the Ukrainian Armed Forces]


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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday August 16 2018, @04:19PM (4 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 16 2018, @04:19PM (#722286) Journal

    I couldn't say what the military might be attempting today - I'm certainly not "in the loop".

    any transmitter that keys up will have incoming artillery in a matter of seconds

    Physics haven't changed in the past ten years, nor in the past 110 years. If you transmit, you are visible. If you are visible, you may expect incoming fire, depending on your perceived value to the enemy. That lesson was learned prior to World War 1. But, succeeding generations often choose to learn from their own mistakes, rather than learn from history.

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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Knowledge Troll on Thursday August 16 2018, @04:41PM (3 children)

    by Knowledge Troll (5948) on Thursday August 16 2018, @04:41PM (#722313) Homepage Journal

    Physics haven't changed in the past ten years, nor in the past 110 years.

    That is true but the state of the art in radio direction finding has definitely changed as technology has progressed. Thirty years ago I would say that it is possible to have a full X/Y coordinate on any arbitrary transmitter in a few seconds in a space the size of a battlefield if there was enough interest to justify the expense.

    Today I say that if I felt like making that system its only a couple thousand dollars and I could do it for fun. And I might. Minus the artillery.

    What it takes is GPS disciplined clocks allowing phase coherent operation of receivers that encircle the area you want to locate things in. Time difference of arrival can then be used to get the bearing between two receivers and multiple intersecting bearings provide a specific point. It really is available with off the shelf gear right now to any hobbyist.

    What I hear is that foxholes aren't just for humans anymore - the modern foxhole might hold a radio and antenna so all the RF radiates up into the sky so only satellites can hear it or they want to bounce it off the ionosphere and do some near vertical incident skywave communication which would get them out about 30 miles but would show the point of transmission as the place it bounces off the ionosphere.

    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday August 16 2018, @04:54PM (2 children)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 16 2018, @04:54PM (#722323) Journal

      Modded up for having spelled it out more precisely than I would have tried. I'll just rely on an analogy. Aboard ship, it's "lights out" at dusk. No lights allowed on deck, for any reason. It only takes the faintest of glows to reveal your location to any enemy within line of sight.

      Any enemy equipped with the correct receiver will spot you in a heartbeat if you light up any electronic gear. It's not all that different from troops equipped with IR vision goggles. All you need is the right kind of "eyes" to see electromagnetic emissions. Give those eyes binocular (or trinocular or more) vision, and the target's ass is grass.

      Kinda puts a new "light" on this song, ehh? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deB_u-to-IE [youtube.com]

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 16 2018, @08:13PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 16 2018, @08:13PM (#722470)

        A ship of decent size is going to be loaded with radar. It really doesn't matter if you add a bit more. You're long past the point of hiding. Protection is active, for example the CIWS, which itself has radar. You might as well issue cell phones to everybody, with the caveat that they must authenticate the ship's cell tower.

        The biggest ships have far more than the faintest of glows, in the form of afterburners.

        I'm sure it's different if you are special forces disguised as local fishermen.

        • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday August 17 2018, @01:30AM

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 17 2018, @01:30AM (#722633) Journal

          Loaded with radar, yes. Just because I have a dozen (or more) transmitters doesn't mean they are radiating. The ship's personnel has complete control over that radiation, beginning with the off/on state, as well the strength of the signal. The ship that has light discipline for night time cruising also has radio discipline for 24/7 stealth cruising. To see me, you are going to have to use active detection methods - which means that I can see you. The moment I know you are around, you are a target. The flashlight is in your hand, and your heart can't be very far away.