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Australia Cracked US Combat Aircraft Codes

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the end-run-around-the-bureaucracy dept.

SpamSlapper writes "Former defense minister Kim Beazley has told how Australia cracked top-secret American combat aircraft codes in the 1980s to enable the shooting down of enemy aircraft. The radar on Australia's US-made Hornets could not identify most potentially hostile aircraft in the region — they were set up for European threats — but despite many requests, the codes were not provided, so 'In the end we spied on them and we extracted the codes ourselves.' The Americans knew what the Australians were doing and were intrigued by the progress they made."

8 of 280 comments (clear)

  1. Understandable by A+beautiful+mind · · Score: 5, Funny

    Mr Beazley said the Americans knew what the Australians were doing and were intrigued by the progress they made.
    So, we knew that they knew that we cracked the aircraft codes. But did they know that we knew that they knew? It also begs for the question that if they did, did we know that they knew that we knew that they knew?
    --
    It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
    Be yourself no matter what they say
  2. Just wondering... by corser · · Score: 5, Funny

    does the DMCA apply retroactively? If so, then Australia can never step foot in the US again.

  3. Here is the secret code by Seumas · · Score: 5, Funny

    Up
    Up
    Down
    Down
    Left
    Right
    Left
    Right
    B
    A
    START

  4. Intrigued? by InvisblePinkUnicorn · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Oh look at them, they're trying to crack our codes..."

    "Oh look, they're actually succeeding. How intriguing!"

    "Hey, wait a sec, they're pointing those missiles at use. I continue to be intrigued!"

  5. the USA didn't do anything about it by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Funny

    because at the time, all Australian aircraft fuel was under seige by Lord Humongous in the desert, and Crocodile Dundee was MIA on a walkabout

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  6. Re:Thrilling story by Xtense · · Score: 5, Funny

    Outsmarting somone is enormously satisfying. If this is true, then you won't mind me being satisfied over nitpicking a typo, eh? :)
    --
    "We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams [...]."
  7. Re:Procurement by Xiaran · · Score: 5, Funny

    I suspect Australia(disclaimer Im Australian) thought that as the US and Australia are very close allies the USAF might give us the ability to use the aircraft we purchased. But hey we followed the US into Iraq so what the hell do we know :)

  8. Re:Fortunately for America... by Scrameustache · · Score: 5, Funny

    as a Brit [...] Cricket incompetent Austrians. To be fair, cricket is a made up sport without any real rules that the British and their colonies play in order to confuse outsiders.

    We're on to you...
    --

    You can't take the sky from me...