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Δημοσιεύτηκε: 16 Απρ 2020, 22:43
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Ευχαριστώ.NATO’s new tool shows the impact of GPS jammers
A new tool developed by NATO will help the alliance prepare for GPS jammers, allowing operational commands to see what impact the devices will have on their GPS receivers, the NATO Communications and Information Agency announced April 6.
“NATO’s adversaries have the ability to degrade or deny GPS-enabled capabilities," Jean-Philippe Saulay, a NATO navigation and identification officer, said in a statement. “NATO must take appropriate measures to ensure Allied forces can operate in a degraded or denied environment."
The Radar Electromagnetic and Communication Coverage Tool, or REACT, is able to estimate how large an area will be affected by specific GPS jammers. By inputting technical information and location data about known jammers, users can see on a map what areas will be affected by the devices and prepare accordingly.
The software also works for other global navigation satellite systems used by NATO, such as the European Union’s Galileo constellation.
According to the agency, REACT is only being used for testing and experimentation at the moment. It was shown to operators during the Trident Jupiter 2019 exercise for feedback. Developers are now working to ensure the software is interoperable with NATO’s classified networks and available to operational commands.
Sponsored by the NATO Navigation and Identification Programme of Work, REACT is available to NATO members free of charge.
Tools like REACT highlight the alliance’s dependence on global navigation satellite systems for accurate position, navigation and timing data, as well as the investments that China, Russia and Iran, among others, are making to develop and field jamming devices. And it’s more than just a hypothetical issue for NATO: In 2018, Norway officials publicly claimed that Russia had jammed GPS signals during NATO’s Trident Jupiter exercise.
“NATO must maintain superiority in the electromagnetic environment, including but not limited to, positioning, navigation and timing services," said Enrico Casini, a communications and navigation engineer at the NCI Agency. “The electromagnetic environment has become even more contested in recent years."
Meanwhile, the U.S. military has been pursuing efforts to overcome the threat posed by GPS jammers. For instance, the U.S. Space Force is working to enable a more secure military signal with GPS III, and just last year the U.S. Army fielded anti-jamming antennas to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Germany.
Ευχαριστώ.The U.S. Army want to turn its soldiers into walking radar detectors.
The reason? Modern battlefields are bathed in radar beams that deprive U.S. infantry of concealment, even under cover of night and camouflage. But if those radars can be detected, then they can be evaded or evaded.
“In the modern operating theater the dismounted warfighter faces a network of sensors searching from fixed and mobile ground and air platforms,” according to the Army’s research solicitation. “Ground Surveillance Radar (GSR) or Battlefield Surveillance Radar (BSR) are long range sensor threats that can identify and track ground movement over kilometer scale distances, posing a threat of the maneuverability, survivability and ultimately the lethality of dismounted units.”
Battlefield surveillance radars have ranges of up to 23 kilometers (14.2 miles), the Army noted. But giving a U.S. infantry squad the “ability to detect a GSR at a distance greater than its maximum range will turn the squad into a distributed sensor to locate advisory assets and take appropriate action.”
However, the problem is that American infantry are already groaning under the weight of weapons, body armor and equipment. Adding radar detection gear will add more strain to sore backs and knees.
Hence, the Army envisions the radar warning receiver “to be a low profile integrated part of the uniform, armor or kit rather than an additional item mounted on the warfighter. The design should consider options such as wearable antennas and flexible electronics.”
The system should be able to determine the angle from which the radar beam is coming, as well as the location of the emitter. The Army is focusing on detecting radar signals in the X- and Ku-bands, with the detector needing to distinguish those signals amid radio frequency clutter from the numerous transmissions that crisscross the battlefield.
“Output will integrate with the Android Tactical Assault Kit (ATAK), a government owned mapping application, for communicating with the soldier,” the Army said. "All members of a squad of 9 soldiers will have the receiver and will be networked through Bluetooth.” Data must also be relayed back to higher-level commanders.
Phase I of the project will demonstrate preliminary designs. Phase II will demonstrate a prototype ruggedized enough to operate in rain, dust, and fog amid temperatures ranging from 30 degrees below zero to 125 degrees Fahrenheit. Phase III will test the detector under field conditions.
Battlefield radars have been around since at least the 1960s, with American troops using them during the Vietnam War. “Our targets typically were within one to five hundred meters....and usually seemed to be squad size groups,” recalled one Vietnam radar operator. “I only know of one confirmed target destroyed. Most of the time I think that if the target was real, we accomplished our mission when the resultant fire scared the enemy away or interrupted their operations.”
Modern radars have become smaller and more digitized. For example, Thales’s Squire man-portable radar weighs about 40 pounds and has a range of up to 48 kilometers (30 miles).
The end result is that much like personal privacy in the Digital Age, it’s getting harder to remain undetected on the battlefield. Drones, radar and thermal cameras are removing the cloak of camouflage and concealment. And what can be seen can be destroyed.