BBC:
Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila has said the GPS signal in his country's northern airspace was disrupted during recent Nato war games in Scandinavia.
He said he believed the signal had been jammed deliberately and that it was possible Russia was to blame because it had the means to do so.
Finland is not a Nato member but joined the war games which began last month.
Norway also reported GPS problems during the exercises near Russia's north-western borders.
...
The Finnish region of Lapland and northern parts of Norway close to the Russian border were affected, with the Norwegian regional airline Widerøe confirming its pilots had experienced GPS disruption, Germany's DW news site reports.However, the airline pointed out that pilots aboard civilian aircraft had other options when a GPS signal failed.
Finland has called "shenanigans" on Russia.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday November 12 2018, @10:55PM
Geez, where's muh broom?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 5, Insightful) by RandomFactor on Monday November 12 2018, @10:58PM (8 children)
I mean logically why wouldn't Russia jam satellites if it hits the fan?
Unless the war games are practicing for our pending battle with Belgium...
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday November 12 2018, @11:07PM (6 children)
My thought exactly.
They should thank whoever jammed the GPS, for improving the readiness of the troops.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 12 2018, @11:21PM (5 children)
You are assuming the wargames were anti-Russian in nature, as in a fight against Russia. NATO does a lot of other military activities, which Finland may be interested in. For example, all the things going on in the Middle East.
If the point of the exercise is to practice and role-play against a group which does not have the technological capability of GPS jamming, then this interference is just being obstinate and disruptive.
A sports-ball analogy... The Yankees are practicing on the baseball field for their upcoming game against the Red Sox. However, the Cubs are annoyed because reasons (i.e. Russia doesn't like Finland being cozy with NATO), so they decide to set up some loudspeakers and blare air-raid sirens during the practice session just to mess it up; it's also a convenient show of force to try to intimidate the Yankees and causes substantial disruption for the civilians in the neighborhood.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Monday November 12 2018, @11:24PM (3 children)
Those were the biggest joint exercises since the cold war. They were not aimed at Daesh or Assad.
Neither of which happen to be near topologies or weather remotely related to Norway/Finland.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by legont on Monday November 12 2018, @11:42PM (2 children)
It's probably a damage control for yet another brand new state of the art NATO technology colliding with an oil tanker. http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/24776/badly-damaged-norwegian-frigate-intentionally-ran-aground-after-tanker-collision [thedrive.com]
As per the GPS jamming, I could probably do it within direct sight distance using off the shelf electronics.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Tuesday November 13 2018, @04:22PM
Low power GPS jammers are already available commercially. For example, this man was fined for his jammer interfering with Newark's systems:
https://www.liveviewgps.com/blog/employee-fined-32000-gps-jammer/ [liveviewgps.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 15 2018, @02:12AM
What kind of warship is it that can't handle such a small fender bender? I guess I form a navy of tankers, ram the enemy, and take over the world.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 13 2018, @12:49AM
It must be wonderful to be able to close your eyes while the ruling elites toboggan towards catastrophe!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 13 2018, @01:55PM
Perhaps the summary should have been
Russians provide a training aid for recent NATO exercise, results mixed
(Score: 2) by LVDOVICVS on Monday November 12 2018, @11:47PM (3 children)
I've had an East German Sextant sitting around here for a few years. I had a sincere desire to learn celestial navigation for a few minutes. But then some other shiny ball of foil got my attention and that never happened.
So what is this GPS alternative that pilots have? Or should I move learning how to use the sextant back up my list of priorities? You never know when those Ruskies are gonna strike.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday November 13 2018, @12:15AM (1 child)
GPS is gonna die real soon now:
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/11/11/brit_boffins_quantum_compass/ [theregister.co.uk]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 13 2018, @01:01AM
Hmm, given my experience with how things that work perfectly in theory proceed to work in practice, I'm betting they haven't solved the recalibration problem by sprinkling on magic quantum dust. Better to have an atomic clock on board to reckon longitude and GP's sextant for latitude.
So I think this one won't pan out. My money's still on male pregnancy.
(Score: 3, Informative) by MadTinfoilHatter on Tuesday November 13 2018, @03:56AM
Fallback number 1: VOR [wikipedia.org]
Fallback number 2: ADF [wiktionary.org] (Doesn't seem to have a wikipedia page)
Fallback number 3: Radar vectors from air traffic control.
And when they get close to the airport there is ILS [wikipedia.org] which is the primary system and not a fallback anyway. It's not like they have to fall back to medieval technology just because satnav is out.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 13 2018, @12:19AM
Comrade 1: Why are we jamming GPS?
Comrade 2: It is how the dead find their way to the polls in Chicago.
Comrade 1: I thought the problems were in Georgia and Florida.
Comrade 2: They are now comrade. They are now.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday November 13 2018, @12:40AM (13 children)
Geeze! Where does it end [blogspot.com]?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 13 2018, @12:43AM (2 children)
It ends when Russia stops being evil, which won't happen with Putin in charge.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 13 2018, @12:47PM (1 child)
What's your definition of evil? I find it hard to come up with something that doesn't put a bunch of 'good' countries at the top of the list.
Secret courts, secret agencies spying on its own citizens, extra-judicial murder, inventing terms as terrorist/enemy combatant/... to not have to justify civilian casualties, daily institutionalized torture, ... that's all on the US's record. (And doesn't seem to be influenced much by the party in power)
I'm not saying Russia isn't evil, they are. But their are worse evils closer to home you may want to fight first. And maybe like Putin, that's also not going away as long as one of [D,R] is in power.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 13 2018, @04:06PM
Well put. The entire ruling class is filthy from Russia to China to the EU to the USA/UK. The only thing I can think of that Russia does that's evil that the EU/USA/UK don't do (any more) is anti-LGBT laws, but the Western world is quickly reneging on their formerly progressive stance on LGBT equality, especially given the conciliationist Democratic Party in the USA that seemed to be fine with being towed rightwards straight into fascism.
The international working class is the only social force that has the capability of confronting and struggling against the evils of the ruling elite.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 13 2018, @07:03AM (9 children)
Oh, please give me another country, that has constantly threatned Finland and other countries around it with war and boasting with it's nucular weapons. Russia is doing that. They are flying over boarders with their jets, going over borders with submarines etc. without permission.
Stop fucking crying for Russia, you Russian troll.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 13 2018, @07:16AM (5 children)
To continue:
Nobody wants to take over Russia. There is no such danger. Nobody wants that shit storm on their hands. Just give us Karjala and Krim back.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday November 13 2018, @09:13AM (1 child)
My sources - young Finns whose ancestral family homes were in Karelia, who know that the region has been raped of its physical resources, left despoilt, and is basically unlivable. Taking the land back would morally mean taking on up to a million unemployed now-resident Russians (otherwise, you're just as bad as the Russians were) which would be a massive burden on the social security system, and completely untenable. It's dead to them - they're ever pragmatic.
I'm not sure what you're going on about when it comes to Crimea - what do you mean by "back"? It was never legitimately Ukrainian, it was simply gifted to them as some political gesture. The peoples off whom it was stolen, and who would want it "back" are in diaspora in very far off lands, but mostly dead. And they weren't even indigenous to the region, having invaded and displaced others centuries earlier.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 13 2018, @09:49AM
I'm Finnish and i want Karjala back, don't tell me what i want.
Russia had no right to take over Crimea, that's what i mean. Even if it does not belong to Ukraine, it most certainly does not belong to Russia.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday November 13 2018, @09:22AM (2 children)
International politics is hard, stop thinking you can fix it just by some grand gesture - it's the grand gestures that typically cause more trouble than they solve. You cannot rewind the clock.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 13 2018, @09:51AM
It does not matter whose planes they were, the bombing was done by SU.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday November 13 2018, @06:03PM
Er...Russia's? If you're talking about Lend-Lease planes being used in the Winter War and/or Continuation War.
There was some talk about a Western expedition [wikipedia.org] to reinforce Finland before/during the Winter War but it never materialized. Britain made a halfhearted effort [wikipedia.org] to bomb Finland once to keep up appearances, since technically they were allied with the Germans (what else were they supposed to do about Russia?).
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 13 2018, @03:44PM (2 children)
Sorry for your plight. But in the US the boy is still crying wolf, trying to distract us from enemies on the inside (ourselves). Russia is a European problem. Maybe they're still pissed about Napoleon, and the Germans...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 14 2018, @08:35PM (1 child)
US should be really happy, that they got Alaska as cheap as they did. Things would be a lot different in that regard, if Russia still owned Alaska. But Russia is not just European problem, not with their dellusions of especially US trying to take over Russia using NATO. Atleast that's their excuse for everything, kind of like certain head Cheetos' as well, only different parameters.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 15 2018, @02:07AM
No, Europe wants to take over Russia, using American muscle. The same muscle that keeps the British empire going as strong as it does, especially in the middle east. You people are wagging the dog.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 13 2018, @02:16AM (1 child)
Messing with communications is a normal part of any large military exercise. It is usually so effective that it is only permitted for a short time. The articles do not say if it went of for more than a few minutes or hours. Do far nothing is unusual.
There are only two things that could possibly stand out here. It is part of the cover story to blame Russia and they make it sound as if the disruption went on for longer than a few minutes or hours. The articles do not say how long the distruption went on but it sounds minor, compared to what could be done. Treating the distruption as a breach of Finnish air space may only be a ruse to increase tensions with Russia and maybe force them to move against Finland and the Scandinavian Peninsula, to the advantage of NATO or for the short-term gain of a small handful of pro-NATO politicians who wish to drum up fear of Russia as a motivation to join NATO. Joining NATO would cost Finland its neutral status and probably force a very aggressive response from Russia..
Russia may have oil, but otherwise the GDP of Russia [tradingeconomics.com] is less than the GDP of Italy [tradingeconomics.com].
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday November 13 2018, @04:47AM
My fathers light cruiser visited in 1970
Tito signed a mutual defense pact with NATO to prevent the Soviets from doing with his country what they later did with Crimea.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday November 13 2018, @04:43AM (1 child)
They named it after the Soviet Foreign Minister at the outbreak of World War II
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 13 2018, @05:03AM