Dronews: bird loses brain. UPDATE
More from Iran on how it dronapped one of our top secret weapons.
The Iranians seem quite appreciative of all the high tech gadgets they found on the drone. “According to the Iranian military official, the drone was “equipped with highly advanced surveillance, data gathering, electronic communication and radar systems,” saying that “this kind of plane has been designed to evade radar systems and from the view point of technology it is amongst the most recent types of advanced aircraft used by the U.S.”
An Iranian military official described their technique in bringing intact to Iranian territory: “By putting noise [jamming] on the communications, you force the bird into autopilot. This is where the bird loses its brain.”
Why couldn’t some boy whiz do the same?
Latest news: A boy whiz could do it: From a report of the USAF Scientific Advisory Board:
“There is a wide range of methods that a determined adversary can use for attacking RPA guidance and navigation systems. The report mentions here only three categories of threats without going into the details:
– Small, simple GPS noise jammers can be easily constructed and employed by an unsophisticated adversary and would be effective over a limited RPA operating area.
– GPS repeaters are also available for corrupting navigation capabilities of RPAs.
– Cyber threats represent a major challenge for future RPA operations. Cyber attacks can affect both on-board and ground systems, and exploits may range from asymmetric CNO attacks to highly sophisticated electronic systems and software attacks.”
With the huge numbers of dollars spent on military R&D, this is ridiculous. Significant heads should roll because of this.
Nah, it’s the new world, Jimmie. Stuff is always breaking, is always broken. If you waste time and resources punishing people for making mistakes, you’ll grind to a halt. Mistakes are inevitable – you learn, fix, and move ahead. The world of high-tech is a very busy, buzzing place. What was the name of that movie? No place for old men?
We’ve been through this before. Cast your minds back to the late spring of 2001, when a US Navy spy plane, chock full of electronic gear, was forced down by the Chinese air force, over the South China Sea, and had to land on Hainan Island. Thanks to the exertions of SecState Colin Powell, the crew was released in a week or two, and perhaps even the plane was given back, but not before the Chinese had mapped and studied and evaluated every piece of electronic equipment aboard it.
A Chinese fighter pilot who had wandered a bit too close to the plane crashed and lost his life. We issued a statement of “regret,” in both English and Chinese, though we maintained the aircraft had been over international waters and had every right to be there. The Chinese took the English version, translated “regret” as “apology” and published it.
Looks like all that technology is obsolete and so, gosh, in spite of this being tough times for the budget, it looks like the next generation of stealth technology will need to be contracted.
Everything new is old, Jim. By the time the Iranians figure it out, it’ll be yesterday’s weapon. Putting the brakes on progress is like stopping the Earth from turning: not a good idea.
Hi, David, I’d note that, if the “supercommittee” process is permitted to play out as legislatively required, then given that the supercommittee wasn’t very super in solving the deficit woes, across the board cuts in Pentagon funding are scheduled to happen. I suppose that this Iranian incident is one more reason that the process won’t be permitted to play out.
Btw – Margaret, in your opinion, how visible is the sweat on the Obama Administration’s collective brow over this development? Is it possible that this is not the coup for Iran that they’re trumpeting to the world?
Jim: I have contemplated the possibility that the drone is loaded down with bed bugs–or some such poison pill and that the Iranians will rue the day they brought that baby down!
The second story linked above says that the Iranians claim to have several drones, Israeli and Americans. So if my bed bug hypothesis is correct, they’re in for a major infestation.
A US MQ-9 drone crashed on 12/13/11 in the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. Drones are being flown there by the USAF for surveillance of pirate activity, a growing threat with international impact. N.B. __ “No one was injured.” ___ For the first time in a century of airborne surveillance, it can be carried out adaptively and intelligently when needed without risking lives of a pilot and air crew. That needs to be included in back-of-the-envelope cost-vs.-capability judgments.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/checkpoint-washington/post/drone-crashes-in-seychelles/2011/12/13/gIQAQ3PsrO_blog.html
While I realize one should not underestimate the intelligence of an opponent, I have a hunch the Iranians are not smart enough to pull this off by themselves. Before anyone clatters up on a high horse of indignity, I am not insulting the Iranians. I simply think the Chinese probably provided technical assistance in return for a gander at the weapon.
On the upside, if China helped Iran and details the thing (re-draws the build specification) they probably make and sell it cheaper than we can, and we can save money buying these from China.
As in golf, every shot makes someone happy!
;-)
Buy the things from China! Wow! Hadn’t thought of that. What a savings we’d see. Ken, have you thought of becoming the U.S. Trade Representative?
Ken — Familiar as we (and the Chinese) are these days with malware, phishing, viruses, worms, trojans, bots, and the like, you might want to check the goods out well before bringing them home. Think of the vendor’s opportunity!