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Russian troops are proving that cell phones in war zones are a very bad idea:
It’s been a nightmare scenario for U.S. commanders for years: An amphibious readiness group sails stealthily towards its objective, one reckless Marine or sailor goes topside and uses a personal cell phone to check Facebook, revealing the position of the assault ship. The Chinese or Russians quickly detect the cell phone signal in the middle of the ocean and realize they can’t miss. The enemy fires its anti-ship ballistic or cruise missiles at Pfc./Seaman Schmuckatelli as he posts a meme and suddenly the entire ship along with thousands of sailors and Marines are lying on the ocean floor.
To some, this type of scenario may seem as hyperbolic as warnings that wearing white socks in combat could give away your location to the enemy, but Russian troops in Ukraine have shown the perils of using cell phones in modern-day warzones.
The Ukrainians claim to have killed 12 general Russian officers since late February, in part because the Russians have resorted to using cell phones when their communications systems break down.
“It is not hard to geo-locate someone on a phone talking in the clear,” retired Army Gen. Ben Hodges, former commander of U.S. Army Europe, told the New York Times.
(Score: 1) by Improbus on Monday May 16 2022, @07:30PM (3 children)
He leaves his phone at home.
(Score: 3, Touché) by fraxinus-tree on Monday May 16 2022, @09:32PM (2 children)
... and then loots one from local civilians because his goverment-provided 1970s-era communication is even easier for the enemy to track. It sucks to be a Russian soldier in 2022.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 17 2022, @05:11PM (1 child)
1970's communications equipment actually worked. If Russia had that then they wouldn't need to steal cellphones from civilians.
(Score: 2) by fraxinus-tree on Wednesday May 18 2022, @10:49AM
... for some meanings of "worked". E.g. you hear your peers, but everyone in or near the line of sight hears you as well, using $30 equipment. No identification of the correspondent, so everyone having the $30 equipment can spoof everyone else as well. Both sides speak the same language. Also see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio_direction_finding [wikipedia.org] . Some people in UA are good at this (so are some RU people, but it doesn't matter now) - up to and including giving coordinates directly to the artillery.