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U.S. Deploys Orbital Communications Jammer
kpwoodr writes "An interesting article at the Washington Times makes note of a recent satellite launch by the U.S. It seems we have put a jammer in space that will allow us to disrupt enemy communication systems at will. From the article: 'The U.S. military is bracing for future attacks in space, and the Air Force has deployed an electronic-warfare unit capable of jamming enemy satellites, the general in charge of space defenses says. "You can't go to war and win without space."'"
tcd004
No. Why do I say that? Because even countries like China, as bad as its rights record is, is seen as more popular and less of a threat to world peace than America. (especially check out that second poll - it really drives home what the world thinks of uss)
We all like to think of ourselves as the good guys. Most of the rest of the world doesn't see it that way.
Also, I can kill you with my brain.
Actually, the US military has spent billions of dollars to reduce collateral damage. Thats why the US has developed laser guided bombs and EO guided weapons and JDAMs and that is why the US is developing the small diameter bomb series.
n itions/smart.htmn itions/sdb.htm
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/mu
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/mu
"The Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) is half the weight of the smallest bomb the Air Force uses today, the 500-pound Mark 82. It uses a 250 pound-class warhead that has demonstrated penetration of more than 6 feet of reinforced concrete. Utilizing a smaller weapon improves aircraft load-out and mission effectiveness. The size and accuracy of small diameter bombs allows aircraft to carry more munitions to more targets and strike them more effectively with less collateral damage. Because of its capabilities, the Small Diameter Bomb system is an important element of the Air Force's Global Strike Task Force."
"The Small Smart Bomb is a 250 pound weapon that has the same penetration capabilities as a 2000lb BLU-109, but with only 50 pounds of explosive. The 250 pound-class warhead that has demonstrated penetration of more than 6 feet of reinforced concrete. "
Hundreds of mobile trucks are harder to take out, especially if the transmitter's not actually on the truck and each truck has several spare transmiters
As a trained 'communication guy' (wiremonkey) from Finnish Army I can tell you than on one of those trucks my expected life time in case of war will be 8min 32sec after antenna goes up.
fucktard is a tenderhearted description
The Outer Space Treaty
A couple days ago, I read about the Pentagon planning a first strike strategy using nukes; now I hear about this...
Man, I need to find a nice hard mountain to build a new home in....
>Anything that you take to war, from your rifles and tanks to your canteens, first-aid kits, and radios, is a weapon.
It's true. In the Marines we call everything like this a "weapon of opportunity."
You can really fuck someone up with an e-tool (entrenchment tool -- a small, collapsable, sharp serrated shovel).
The article is about the CounterCom system that was deployed months ago. This is just a ground based jammer: http://www.c4isrjournal.com/story.php?F=461040
If only..... I think you mean the B-17 in WW2 (17,600lb bomb load), or maybe the B-52 in Vietnam (60,000lb bomb load); but the B52 was pretty accurate.
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
But the worst was our use of cluster bombs over neighborhoods during "shock and awe."
Cite?
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
Most jammers radiate lots of RF, how could a satellite have the power budget to make a strong enough signal to be a credible jammer? If they're trying to jam uplinks, geostationary satellites typically use directional antennas, pointed at the service area on the ground, the jammer would need to be in the beam to make it's signal louder than the bad guy at the satellite's receiver input. You can't hold position between the earth and a geostationary satellite. Ground based stations can make lots of power into very large antennas it would be difficult to generate a louder jamming signal at the satellite. If they're jamming the downlink, the same large antenna used at the ground station for uplink is also used for down link. Large antennas have narrow beam width, if the jammer isn't "in the beam" the jamming signal would be greatly attenuated. If the "bad guys" use spread spectrum modulation systems, the jammer has to spread it's energy over wide bandwidth it will eventually be weaker than background noise.
If they want to jam ground to ground communication systems, the satellite is a hell of a lot farther away than the next microwave station on the horizon. The inverse square law of radio propagation is a powerful foe for jammers.
It might work in a few special situations, but good luck jamming systems that are intended to be "jam resistant" from thousands of miles away. Even if the jammers were in low earth orbit, they'd go whizzing buy and only be effective for short periods, and you still have the power budget problem.
I'd bet they are up to something else, this is a cover story.
Didn't anybody read? There ain't no Death Star. Where did "satellite launch from the US" come into things? Oh yeah, it's Slashdot, foolish jumping to conclusions for nerds.
This "unit" is a group of trained people, most likely on the ground or from the air, who shoot electronic jammy things at ground stations which link to enemy satellites, or enemy ground stations which themselves are jamming US satellites. The US wants to keep its satellites, and since it has more capable and more expensive satellites than competitors it would rather not get in a "you blow up mine, I blow up yours" competition since the endpoint negates US advantages. They want to "I blow up your jammers so my satellites work again."
"Shock and Awe" was a depcapitation strike on the Iraqi Leadership, it was not the entire bombing campaign. It was conducted with guided weapons and not cluster bombs. Cluster bombs and other unguided munitions were used during the rest of the campaign.
However technically, Shock and Awe in the terms of US military operations is a post-Cold War military doctrine for the United States. Rapid Dominance and Shock and Awe, it was written, may become a "revolutionary change" as the United States military is reduced in size and information technology is increasingly integrated into warfare. Subsequent U.S. military authors have written that Rapid Dominance exploits "superior technology, precision engagement, and information dominance" which they attribute to the United States.
As for DU, we don't know what DU does in terms of people's health. There is evidence both ways on DU.
"The International Atomic Energy Agency reported, "based on credible scientific evidence, there is no proven link between DU exposure and increases in human cancers or other significant health or environmental impacts,"