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