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.

Read more ....

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.

Russia To Test 'Jammers' That Can Block Signals From Foreign Military Satellites

Arctic version of Krasukha-4 jammer (Image from sdelanounas.ru)

RT: Russian satellite-gagging jammer field tests announced

A leading Russian producer of electronic warfare systems is to roll out a new jammer that would render enemy precision weapons useless by suppressing guidance systems, including those relying on satellite signals.

“The system is meant to jam enemy aviation, carrier-launched, tactical and strategic, and jam the signals of foreign military satellites,” Yury Maevsky, deputy head of KRET, told TASS

KRET is a leading producer of military hardware, including advance electronic warfare equipment. Its latest long-range jammer, Krasukha-4, entered service in 2013 and is gradually replacing older variants, while smaller-scale systems provided security during last year’s Olympics in Sochi.

WNU Editor: The U.S. has been expecting this development for a long time .... Guided-Bomb Makers Anticipate GPS Jammers (Defense News).

China Trying To Jam U.S. MilitDrones

(Click to Enlarge)

CREDIT: Brown Bird DesignScientific American

Washington Free Beacon: Chinese Military Using Jamming Against U.S. Drones

Global Hawk targeted over disputed South China Sea islands

China tried to electronically jam U.S. drone flights over the South China Sea in a bid to thwart spying on disputed island military construction, U.S. officials said.

Global Hawk long-range surveillance drones were targeted by the jamming in at least one incident near the disputed Spratly Islands, where China is building military facilities on Fiery Cross Reef.

Disclosure of the jamming came as a U.S. Navy P-8 surveillance flight on Wednesday was challenged eight times by the Chinese military to leave the same area.

WNU Editor: I am surprised that reports of jamming drones .... specifically military drones .... are reported only occasionally. I guess it reflects on the sensitivity (and concerns) that the military is now placing on these reports .... and why they want to minimize the news coverage.

DARPA Wants 'Precision Jamming' To Take Enemies Out Of The Conversation

DARPA's Precision Electronic Warfare: Dropping radio silence on the bad guys.

From Popular Science:

On the battlefield, communication is key. So while improving comms between our troops is a vital part of the military's technological mission, the mad scientists over at DARPA are scheming up a new way to deny communication to the enemy in a very precise way. DARPA is seeking proposals for a way to use an array of low-power transmitter nodes in the sky and on the ground to perform "surgical jamming" that will knock out communications signals "on the order of a city block corner" while leaving surrounding areas unaffected.

Read more ....