The Pentagon Is Testing Lasers To Get Off The Grid And Avoid Being Jammed By Russia And China

Marine Corps field radio operators dismount a free space optic system from a tactical elevated antenna mass at Camp Hansen, Okinawa, August 17, 2018. US Marine Corps/Pfc. Kindo Go

Business Insider: The Pentagon is worried about getting jammed by Russia and China, so it's testing lasers to go off the grid

* The US military is getting ready for a potential conflict against a powerful adversary whose capabilities may nearly match those of the US.
* In addition to more lethal weaponry, such an adversary would have greater electronic warfare capabilities, meaning it could intercept communications and use them against US forces.
* The Pentagon is looking at ways to fend off such interference, and one way to do that is to get of the radio-frequency spectrum altogether.

As the Pentagon reorients toward great-power competition with adversaries like Russia and China, its preparations go beyond learning to ski and practicing to drive across Europe.

US military units rely on wireless networks and radio-frequency communications to talk on the battlefield, sharing intelligence, targeting data, and orders.

But concern is growing that rivals like China and Russia could pick up those transmissions and jam them, change them to confuse or deceive, or track them to target the people sending and receiving them — tactics Russia and Russian-backed forces are believed to have used before.

The Pentagon has started exploring the use of laser communications systems that are harder to detect and disrupt.

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Update: US Marines Test Laser Communication System to Beat Radio Jammers (Sputnik)

WNU Editor: Russia and China are apparently working on the same type of systems.