tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514977.post6318624654438533594..comments2024-01-08T12:51:25.660-05:00Comments on Precision Blogging: Pity the poor Predators and their handlers:tobyr21@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08478279273433877261noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514977.post-17283416008669369422009-12-20T12:55:57.392-05:002009-12-20T12:55:57.392-05:00Ender,
Thanks for a terrific addition to this entr...Ender,<br />Thanks for a terrific addition to this entry!<br />- PBtobyr21@gmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08478279273433877261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514977.post-39337514299011618002009-12-20T11:39:08.552-05:002009-12-20T11:39:08.552-05:00I agree, and there are even more issues than you m...I agree, and there are even more issues than you mention with a potential switchover to encryption. Receivers aren't just at major Predator operations centers or airbases - these signals are also sent to ROVER units carried by forward air controllers (essentially, the troops who call in airstrikes). They have to carry the equipment (and any passwords) with them, and the resultant logistical and technical headache of including decryption capabilities to hundreds (thousands?) of receivers spread throughout the warzone is a real problem. During a potential switchover, you'd have the added headache of having to keep dual capabilities of encrypted an unencrypted feeds until all receivers and transmitters were shifted.<br /><br />Nor is the problem limited to Predators. While they started on UAVs, the military started adding them to AC-130s and now pretty much every plane in the combat zone. They'd have to overhaul the system on all of those aircraft (though, to be fair, they're less susceptible to interception since their signals are not omnidirectional and not transmitted continuously as in UAVs).<br /><br />I think the bigger question is what to do in a more evenly matched fight. What if a technically sophisticated enemy could use some fancy ECW to disrupt (or worse, fake) the signals? UAVs across the theater might crash without instructions (they currently have limited autonomy, but nothing fancy), ongoing operations could be compromised, and our troops would be suddenly blind. Now *that* is a reasonable concern, but one that's not particularly relevant to today's wars.<br /><br />The military has known about this potential vulnerability for a LONG time (I saw one report arguing they discussed it in 1996!), and it has been frequently brought up as a potential issue. While one can imagine that maybe the military is incompetent, I think that they probably carefully weighed the options and decided that for today's wars, the vulnerability will just have to exist.<br /><br />No one at the Pentagon imagined that the Predator program (initially a handful of planes built on the cheap with off-the-shelf components) would turn into dozens of continual 'orbits' in the air over two giant countries, a fundamental shift in USAF future procurements planning, or that the transmission system cobbled together in the early 90s would be copied and integrated into a vast network of transmitters on every USAF plane and receivers with hundreds of units in the field.<br /><br />Kudos for your level-headed approach to the issue.Enderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08124430514659588154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5514977.post-17225865697979409432009-12-20T09:06:53.204-05:002009-12-20T09:06:53.204-05:00Precision channels Schneier!Precision channels Schneier!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com