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The Military Communications United States

Russia Is Attacking US Forces With Electronic Weapons In Syria, General Says (yahoo.com) 249

Posted by BeauHD from the changing-battlefield dept.
john of sparta shares a report from Yahoo: American forces in Syria are increasingly facing attacks from Russian and Syrian electronic warfare weapons, as Moscow uses the conflict to test its future arsenal. General Raymond Thomas, head of the U.S. Special Operations Command, said that Syria has become "the most aggressive electronic warfare environment on the planet," Breakingdefense.com reported. Speaking at a geospatial intelligence conference in Florida, Gen. Thomas said that Russian and Syrian regime forces "are testing us everyday, knocking our communications down, disabling our [EC-130 aircraft]."

The Lockheed Martin EC-130 Compass Call is one of America's most advanced electronic warfare weapons. Based on the C-130 Hercules, the plane was developed to disrupt enemy communications, radar and command operations. The craft's presence in Syrian skies gives Russia the chance to test its weapons against the best the U.S. has to offer, whether directly or through its Syrian allies. Earlier this month, four anonymous officials told NBC News that Russia has also been regularly targeting smaller U.S. surveillance drones. One of those quoted said Russian operations were having a significant impact on U.S. capabilities. The sophisticated attacks were even successful against encrypted signals and anti-jamming devices, the official said. Slashdot reader john of sparta adds, "Well, it's war; not a surprise..."
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Russia Is Attacking US Forces With Electronic Weapons In Syria, General Says More

Russia Is Attacking US Forces With Electronic Weapons In Syria, General Says

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  • Not only there (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    ""are testing us everyday, knocking our communications down,"

    They also knocked a moron as president down your throats.

    • That was in 2008. Get with the times. Those years are over.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        He's referring to Hillary being knocked out of the election she tried to steal.

    • ""are testing us everyday, knocking our communications down,"

      They also knocked a moron as president down your throats.

      Ah, if only we had more "moron" presidents. Reagan, Trump ...

      I've been around long enough to recognize domestic propaganda too.

    • Re: Not only there (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      The whole Trump Russia connection a tired democrat narrative. Only a moron would believe this shit at this point.

    • Just curious - in your worldview how do you reconcile the âoeTrump is a Russian stoogeâ fantasy narrative with the âoeRussia is fighting us in proxy warsâ reality?

  • This cuts two ways... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Freischutz ( 4776131 ) on Saturday April 28, 2018 @05:31AM (#56518427)

    The craft's presence in Syrian skies gives Russia the chance to test its weapons against the best the U.S. has to offer...

    At the same time it also gives the US a sample of the best Russia can throw at them and the effect that has on US tactics which have relied on battlefield networking, large numbers of remote controlled drones and the apparent assumption that these communications will never be significantly disrupted or even completely disabled. Let's just hope that this lesson will be better heeded than those learned by the Americans who fought the Japanese in the run-up to WWII. Their reports were filed away or ignored by the Pentagon which ignored the threat because the reports contradicted their preconceptions about the Japanese.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      At the same time it also gives the US a sample of the best Russia can throw at them..

      Hah, keep thinking that..
      This isn't (yet) a full on war between the US and Russia, both sides are *not* deploying 'the best' as they'll be needing them in the event that they do directly engage each other.
      As an example, at no point (according to a ex-colleague who worked on them) have any of BMEWS systems been run at 'full capability', the point being to try 'steer' Russian tactical planning in specific directions based on observed capabilities. Now, this is not to say that the Russians don't know this, the

      • At the same time it also gives the US a sample of the best Russia can throw at them..

        Hah, keep thinking that.. This isn't (yet) a full on war between the US and Russia, both sides are *not* deploying 'the best' as they'll be needing them in the event that they do directly engage each other. As an example, at no point (according to a ex-colleague who worked on them) have any of BMEWS systems been run at 'full capability', the point being to try 'steer' Russian tactical planning in specific directions based on observed capabilities. Now, this is not to say that the Russians don't know this, they do, so any overt display of their tactics in regards to this have to be taken with a large pinch of salt. Ditto re this story, the Russians deploy various EW tactics, the USians bleat 'Nasty Russians, their EW degrades our ability to function..' both countries analysts then sit and try figure out by how much the other lot are taking the piss..

        Oh!, the games people play....

        I'm pretty sure that to hurt the US the Russkies are not using re-conditioned 1970s vintage Soviet era EW equipment in Syria that they borrowed from a a museum. They must be using at least SOME of their best stuff to mess with one of the best equipped high tech armies on earth even if they are not be using their best stuff to its full capacity. Basically I don't really care whether they have thrown all of their best stuff at the US forces in Syria at full capacity or if they are holding back, for me this is

        • So, what kind of communications will be used when EW equipment is totally compromised and put out of commission? There's not much one can do to communicate with unmanned vehicles and even autonomous ones can be disabled. For communication with manned vehicles (planes, trucks, etc.) or individual groups of troops does the military drop back to smoke signals, semaphores, or very, very long wires? Pilots and ground forces may have to depend on individual initiative to get the job done. The battle field will be

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Cederic ( 9623 )

          They must be using at least SOME of their best stuff to mess with one of the best equipped high tech armies on earth even if they are not be using their best stuff to its full capacity.

          I'd agree neither side are likely to be going full capability, but that also means that the Russians aren't necessarily using any of their best stuff. ECW technologies dating back to WWII will compromise drone control and it'll be useful to Russia to find out how they respond to that type of attack.

          The US forces need to be able to survive a complete breakdown in all of these networked systems and if there is one thing that recommends manned tanks/aircraft/choppers it's that a crew on board the vehicle driving/flying it manually can neither be jammed nor hacked.

          Well, even that's not necessarily true. Given A10 pilots' tendency to shoot friendly forces even when not under electronic countermeasures I can only imagine how US forces will respond when they're receiving fals

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      I really doubt that the Russians are using their best tech here. They will just be testing how practical electronic warfare is for their soldiers to use. It has to be usable by low skill front line troops.

      • I really doubt that the Russians are using their best tech here. They will just be testing how practical electronic warfare is for their soldiers to use. It has to be usable by low skill front line troops.

        Maybe you are right, maybe you are wrong, it is immaterial. Even if you are right and the Russians are already disrupting US comms, drone control and battlefield networking without even really trying or deploying their best assets it should be a wakeup-call to the Pentagon.

    • Another possibility is you leak a story to the press whining about how the Russian electronic warfare has successfully crippled your most sophisticated electronic warfare assets. When in reality they're able to operate just fine despite the jamming, and you just want to lull the opposition into a false sense of having succeeded. Those of you who grew up after the Cold War have no idea just how convoluted the disinformation game can become.
      • You also report things like this when you want the Gov't contract feeding trough to be topped up. It's turtles all the way down.

  • Same thing in Ukraine (Score:5, Informative)

    by quonset ( 4839537 ) on Saturday April 28, 2018 @05:41AM (#56518435)

    From the beginning of the Russian attack against Ukraine, the Russian military has been using and testing its electronic warfare capabilities. They were even able to track an app Ukrainian artillery units were using to calculate their fire and use it to target the units.

    The OSCE monitors routinely report their UAVs are being jammed while over Russian-occupied territory. Also, these monitors report on a regular basis the presence of Russian mobile electronic jamming vehicles.

    Fortunately, as was stated further up, this jamming has given us a look into Russian procedures and allows us to find ways around it or at the least, to mitigate it. As a result, Ukrainian military units are able to communicate and coordinate their activities to target Russian military personnel on Ukrainian territory.

  • Turns out the Russian's secret weapon (in the best tradition of Russian engineering) is just a giant magnet.

  • How dare they (Score:5, Insightful)

    by melted ( 227442 ) on Saturday April 28, 2018 @06:38AM (#56518519) Homepage

    How dare they interrupt our electronic weapons with their own electronic weapons!

    • We'll have to fight back using Psychic communication links!
    • That sentiment would be reasonable if we were at war with Russia, but we're not. We're in Syria to fight Isis. Russia's public position is that they're in Syria to fight Isis too. The problem is that Russia is leaving Isis alone, and is kind of supporting Isis by interfering with us.

      • We're there to fight ISIL? ISIL is pretty much where we want them: out of Iraq and focused on Assad. Sunni extremists attacking our Shia allie in Iraq? Terrorists. Sunni extremists attacking Alawites in Syria? Freedom fighters.

      • nope, you need to research whom we're fighting and arming in Syria. We have no good purpose in Syria

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Nope, Russia is fighting ISIS. The US is fighting Assad, who was trying to defend his country against ISIS.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Cederic ( 9623 )

        Wait? An ally of the government of a country is helping to defend that country against military interference from another country, and yet the narrative is that they're the aggressor?

        Fuck that. Russia is helping defend Syria against the US. Be glad they're only using electronic countermeasures and not anything more lethal.

        Personally I hope Russia shoot down Turkish jets to stop those cunts genociding the Kurds. Luckily they can do this as a defensive measure against Turkish aggression and thus not draw the

  • Free strategy (Score:5, Insightful)

    by king neckbeard ( 1801738 ) on Saturday April 28, 2018 @06:39AM (#56518521)

    If this is such a concern, I've got a strategy the US can use to combat this: Get the hell out of Syria.

    It's ridiculous to be offended/upset that someone is using countermeasures against the drones being used against them or their allies.

    • The reason for the Syrian war is to have a pipeline from Qatar to Europe. The US is fighting a war for oil. Literally. For the ungrateful nations of Europe. Fucked up, eh?.
      • For the ungrateful nations of Europe? We didn't ask for this war who is killing thousand of innocents and sending us a crapton of refugees. Nobody in Europe want this fucking war, so fuck off.
        • It's for your goddamn energy independence so you don't have to rely on Russia. Moreover you're not diverse, so you're welcome for introducing diversity to your societies. Again, no thanks to the people who give you everything.
    • Ostensibly, the U.S. and Russia are in Syria with the same goal - to fight ISIS. But behind the curtains, the U.S. is supporting Syrian rebels who want to overthrow al-Assad, while Russia is backing al-Assad and his government forces. They tolerate each others' presence in Syria because they both agree that an ISIS-controlled Syria is worse than either an al-Assad-controlled or rebel-controlled Syria. But neither will pass up a chance to "accidentally" lob a bomb at government forces, or a rebel-held cit
  • We get to study their capabilities too.

    • yes, it's actually a good thing for the USA's ability to stay on top of ECC. Some people have no critical thinking skills....

  • Enemy actually hits you back in a war (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    C-130 Hercules, the plane was developed to disrupt enemy communications, radar and command operations.

    So it is ok for the US to put a bigass electronic weapon in a foreign country.

    Russia has also been regularly targeting smaller U.S. surveillance drones

    But they are pissed that the other side do the same thing to a few drones?!

    The headline should be "US General Surprised That Enemy Actually Hit Back"

  • make it so hot that not anything electronic works anymore,

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Cederic ( 9623 )

      Umm. Why? What would be the benefit, and how the fuck do you even think it could be achieved without committing war crimes?

  • The author of the article makes it sounds as though some outrage is being visited on American troops in Syria. All that is happening is the the Russians and Syrians are using electronic tools to counter our own electronic surveillance. It's a little difficult for me to get upset about this.

  • Budget season. Public presentation by a four star screaming "Crisis! Give me more money!"

  • Electronic counter measures (Score:4, Insightful)

    by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 ) on Saturday April 28, 2018 @11:12AM (#56519441)

    Do electronic counter measures qualify as attacks, especially when the US military are flying war planes in sovereign Syrian airspace? Oh the US military are such poor, delicate victims of these evil Syrian radio waves. Why won't the Syrian military stop?

  • Israelis Monitoring? (Score:3)

    by Artagel ( 114272 ) on Saturday April 28, 2018 @12:03PM (#56519681) Homepage

    I suspect the Israelis are somehow monitoring this with great interest. They have the capabilities to have good performance in this area on both sides of the EW battle. And they would not be tipping their hand to either side.

  • If the attacks were having no real effect and the existence of any technology used to thwart them was secret, our personnel would be committing treason not to complain about how it is shutting us down. They might even crash or blow up a drone or have an EC-130 leave the scene or otherwise pretend to be jammed. With more critical techs, they wouldn't even be allowed to turn on the secret capabilities unless the situation was critical. For that reason, this article isn't worth reading. It is as likely to be p

  • Syria, much like Iraq, is simply a testing ground for both sides to see how well their new toys perform outside of a controlled environment.

    Neither side can show what they're really holding though lest they spoil the surprise.

    As a result, these are the minor, expendable assets they're playing with atm.

    Albeit, at the expense of Syrian lives.

  • Red scaremngering (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Seeing that a) the US is an invader in Syria and b) Russia is there at the invitation of the invadee a correct headline should be "Russia Is Defending against Attacking US Forces With Electronic Weapons In Syria, General Says"

  • Those reports about the US battle ship blinded "electronically" by one (older) Russian military plane in the Black Sea and the suspicions, a similar technique was used by Russians and/or Chinese to make US battle ships crash into commercial ships in South-East Asia had been caused by electronic weapons and/or infiltration of the US systems seem to be true? Someone with business connections to Russians developing such systems told me 6 months ago that the Russians had such a system and/or remote access to th

  • But the U.S. is not at war in Syria, right?

    No boots on the ground, so it doesn't count.

    Just like the first Sunday in December, 1941, at Pearl Harbor.

  • So the US is bitching about Russia for doing to them what they are doing to the russians, but the russians seem to be better at it.. hahaha..

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