OK, now I know what a GPS simulator is like. BTW the Spirent is cheaper at used-line.com than on paybay. Anyway my opinion doesn't change: as pointed out by David VanHorn they have jammed the GPS and the data link. I think the data link must be a sophisticated frequency hopping type radio link so, at most, their skill was to jam that.
On Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 12:04 AM, J. Forster <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm not so sure. What if you has one site, antenna, and transmitter and a > dozen signal sources with programmable synthesizers and coders. > > The drone antenna is likely omni. The Russians or Chinese could easily > supply that. > > -John > > ================ > > > > Fascinating. > > > > I can picture setting up a bunch of transmitters in the hills to send out > > strong GPS-like signals to mimic the real thing. I suppose you could > > control those signals to fool the device it is somewhere else. That bit > is > > very clever - you'd have to adjust the signals taking into account > current > > positions of all current satellites. Smart bit of work there. > > > > But it would also need incredible timing. Even a few ns out and it > > wouldn't > > work. So how do you set up fantastic timing at different locations of > > transmitters throughout a country. Well you've blocked the GPS - so > that's > > no good. > > > > It would require local atomic clocks (good ones) at each location. > > > > Do they have access to such things? Maybe I'm being naive. > > > > Jim > > > > > > On 16 December 2011 08:10, J. Forster <[email protected]> wrote: > > > >> Iran hijacked US drone, claims Iranian engineer Tells Christian Science > >> Monitor that CIA's spy aircraft was 'spoofed' into landing in enemy > >> territory instead of its home base in Afghanistan > >> Iran guided the CIA's "lost" stealth drone to an intact landing inside > >> hostile territory by exploiting a navigational weakness long-known to > >> the > >> US military, according to an Iranian engineer now working on the > >> captured > >> drone's systems inside Iran. > >> > >> Iranian electronic warfare specialists were able to cut off > >> communications > >> links of the American bat-wing RQ-170 Sentinel, says the engineer, who > >> works for one of many Iranian military and civilian teams currently > >> trying > >> to unravel the drone’s stealth and intelligence secrets, and who could > >> not > >> be named for his safety. > >> > >> Using knowledge gleaned from previous downed American drones and a > >> technique proudly claimed by Iranian commanders in September, the > >> Iranian > >> specialists then reconfigured the drone's GPS coordinates to make it > >> land > >> in Iran at what the drone thought was its actual home base in > >> Afghanistan. > >> > >> "The GPS navigation is the weakest point," the Iranian engineer told the > >> Monitor, giving the most detailed description yet published of Iran's > >> "electronic ambush" of the highly classified US drone. "By putting noise > >> [jamming] on the communications, you force the bird into autopilot. This > >> is > >> where the bird loses its brain." > >> > >> The “spoofing” technique that the Iranians used – which took into > >> account > >> precise landing altitudes, as well as latitudinal and longitudinal data > >> – > >> made the drone “land on its own where we wanted it to, without having to > >> crack the remote-control signals and communications” from the US control > >> center, says the engineer. > >> > >> The revelations about Iran's apparent electronic prowess come as the US, > >> Israel, and some European nations appear to be engaged in an > >> ever-widening > >> covert war with Iran, which has seen assassinations of Iranian nuclear > >> scientists, explosions at Iran's missile and industrial facilities, and > >> the > >> Stuxnet computer virus that set back Iran’s nuclear program. > >> > >> Now this engineer’s account of how Iran took over one of America’s most > >> sophisticated drones suggests Tehran has found a way to hit back. The > >> techniques were developed from reverse-engineering several less > >> sophisticated American drones captured or shot down in recent years, the > >> engineer says, and by taking advantage of weak, easily manipulated GPS > >> signals, which calculate location and speed from multiple satellites. > >> Rock Center: Iran's growing influence in > >> Iraq< > >> > http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/13/9398341-a-growing-iranian-threat-in-wake-of-us-military-withdrawal-from-iraq-this-month > >> > > >> > >> Western military experts and a number of published papers on GPS > >> spoofing > >> indicate that the scenario described by the Iranian engineer is > >> plausible. > >> > >> "Even modern combat-grade GPS [is] very susceptible” to manipulation, > >> says > >> former US Navy electronic warfare specialist Robert Densmore, adding > >> that > >> it is “certainly possible” to recalibrate the GPS on a drone so that it > >> flies on a different course. “I wouldn't say it's easy, but the > >> technology > >> is there.” > >> > >> In 2009, Iran-backed Shiite militants in Iraq were found to have > >> downloaded > >> live, unencrypted video streams from American Predator drones with > >> inexpensive, off-the-shelf software. But Iran’s apparent ability now to > >> actually take control of a drone is far more significant. > >> > >> Iran asserted its ability to do this in September, as pressure mounted > >> over > >> its nuclear program. > >> > >> Gen. Moharam Gholizadeh, the deputy for electronic warfare at the air > >> defense headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), > >> described to Fars News how Iran could alter the path of a GPS-guided > >> missile – a tactic more easily applied to a slower-moving drone. > >> > >> *Downed US drone: How Iran caught the > >> 'beast'*< > >> > http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2011/1209/Downed-US-drone-How-Iran-caught-the-beast > >> > > >> > >> “We have a project on hand that is one step ahead of jamming, meaning > >> ‘deception’ of the aggressive systems,” said Gholizadeh, such that “we > >> can > >> define our own desired information for it so the path of the missile > >> would > >> change to our desired destination.” > >> > >> Gholizadeh said that “all the movements of these [enemy drones]” were > >> being > >> watched, and “obstructing” their work was “always on our agenda.” > >> > >> That interview has since been pulled from Fars’ Persian-language > >> website. > >> And last month, the relatively young Gholizadeh died of a heart attack, > >> which some Iranian news sites called suspicious – suggesting the > >> electronic > >> warfare expert may have been a casualty in the covert war against Iran. > >> > >> *Iran's growing electronic capabilities > >> *Iranian lawmakers say the drone capture is a "great epic" and claim to > >> be > >> "in the final steps of breaking into the aircraft's secret code." > >> > >> Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta told Fox News on Dec. 13 that the US > >> will > >> "absolutely" continue the drone campaign over Iran, looking for evidence > >> of > >> any nuclear weapons work. But the stakes are higher for such > >> surveillance, > >> now that Iran can apparently disrupt the work of US drones. > >> > >> US officials skeptical of Iran’s capabilities blame a malfunction, but > >> so > >> far can't explain how Iran acquired the drone intact. One American > >> analyst > >> ridiculed Iran’s capability, telling Defense News that the loss was > >> “like > >> dropping a Ferrari into an ox-cart technology culture.” > >> > >> A former senior Iranian official who asked not to be named said: "There > >> are > >> a lot of human resources in Iran.... Iran is not like Pakistan." > >> > >> “Technologically, our distance from the Americans, the Zionists, and > >> other > >> advanced countries is not so far to make the downing of this plane seem > >> like a dream for us … but it could be amazing for others,” deputy IRGC > >> commander Gen. Hossein Salami said this week. > >> Iran: Obama should apologize for drone > >> 'spying'< > >> > http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/13/9417003-iran-obama-should-apologize-for-drone-spying-operation > >> > > >> > >> According to a European intelligence source, Iran shocked Western > >> intelligence agencies in a previously unreported incident that took > >> place > >> sometime in the past two years, when it managed to “blind” a CIA spy > >> satellite by “aiming a laser burst quite accurately.” > >> > >> More recently, Iran was able to hack Google security certificates, says > >> the > >> engineer. In September, the Google accounts of 300,000 Iranians were > >> made > >> accessible by hackers. The targeted company said "circumstantial > >> evidence" > >> pointed to a "state-driven attack" coming from Iran, meant to snoop on > >> users. > >> > >> Cracking the protected GPS coordinates on the Sentinel drone was no more > >> difficult, asserts the engineer. > >> > >> *US knew of GPS systems' vulnerability > >> *Use of drones has become more risky as adversaries like Iran hone > >> countermeasures. The US military has reportedly been aware of > >> vulnerabilities with pirating unencrypted drone data streams since the > >> Bosnia campaign in the mid-1990s. > >> Top US officials said in 2009 that they were working to encrypt all > >> drone > >> data streams in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan – after finding militant > >> laptops loaded with days' worth of data in Iraq – and acknowledged that > >> they were "subject to listening and exploitation."Perhaps as easily > >> exploited are the GPS navigational systems upon which so much of the > >> modern > >> military depends. > >> "GPS signals are weak and can be easily outpunched [overridden] by > >> poorly > >> controlled signals from television towers, devices such as laptops and > >> MP3 > >> players, or even mobile satellite services," Andrew Dempster, a > >> professor > >> from the University of New South Wales School of Surveying and Spatial > >> Information Systems, told a March conference on GPS vulnerability in > >> Australia. > >> > >> "This is not only a significant hazard for military, industrial, and > >> civilian transport and communication systems, but criminals have worked > >> out > >> how they can jam GPS," he says. > >> > >> *Unmanned drone attacks and shape-shifting robots: War's remote-control > >> future*< > >> > http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2011/1022/Unmanned-drone-attacks-and-shape-shifting-robots-War-s-remote-control-future > >> > > >> > >> The US military has sought for years to fortify or find alternatives to > >> the > >> GPS system of satellites, which are used for both military and civilian > >> purposes. In 2003, a “Vulnerability Assessment Team” at Los Alamos > >> National > >> Laboratory published research explaining how weak GPS signals were > >> easily > >> overwhelmed with a stronger local signal. > >> > >> “A more pernicious attack involves feeding the GPS receiver fake GPS > >> signals so that it believes it is located somewhere in space and time > >> that > >> it is not,” reads the Los Alamos report. “In a sophisticated spoofing > >> attack, the adversary would send a false signal reporting the moving > >> target’s true position and then gradually walk the target to a false > >> position.” > >> > >> The vulnerability remains unresolved, and a paper presented at a Chicago > >> communications security conference in October laid out parameters for > >> successful spoofing of both civilian and military GPS units to allow a > >> "seamless takeover" of drones or other targets. > >> > >> To “better cope with hostile electronic attacks,” the US Air Force in > >> late > >> September awarded two $47 million contracts to develop a "navigation > >> warfare" system to replace GPS on aircraft and missiles, according to > >> the > >> Defense Update website. > >> > >> Official US data on GPS describes "the ongoing GPS modernization > >> program" > >> for the Air Force, which "will enhance the jam resistance of the > >> military > >> GPS service, making it more robust." > >> > >> *Why the drone's underbelly was damaged > >> *Iran's drone-watching project began in 2007, says the Iranian engineer, > >> and then was stepped up and became public in 2009 – the same year that > >> the > >> RQ-170 was first deployed in Afghanistan with what were then > >> state-of-the-art surveillance systems. > >> In January, Iran said it had shot down two conventional (nonstealth) > >> drones, and in July, Iran showed Russian experts several US drones – > >> including one that had been watching over the underground uranium > >> enrichment facility at Fordo, near the holy city of Qom. > >> > >> In capturing the stealth drone this month at Kashmar, 140 miles inside > >> northeast Iran, the Islamic Republic appears to have learned from two > >> years > >> of close observation. > >> > >> Iran displayed the drone on state-run TV last week, with a dent in the > >> left > >> wing and the undercarriage and landing gear hidden by anti-American > >> banners. > >> > >> The Iranian engineer explains why: "If you look at the location where we > >> made it land and the bird's home base, they both have [almost] the same > >> altitude," says the Iranian engineer. "There was a problem [of a few > >> meters] with the exact altitude so the bird's underbelly was damaged in > >> landing; that's why it was covered in the broadcast footage." > >> > >> Prior to the disappearance of the stealth drone earlier this month, > >> Iran’s > >> electronic warfare capabilities were largely unknown – and often > >> dismissed. > >> > >> "We all feel drunk [with happiness] now," says the Iranian engineer. > >> "Have > >> you ever had a new laptop? Imagine that excitement multiplied > >> many-fold." > >> When the Revolutionary Guard first recovered the drone, they were aware > >> it > >> might be rigged to self-destruct, but they "were so excited they could > >> not > >> stay away." > >> > >> ** **Scott Peterson* < > http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Scott+Peterson > >> >*, > >> the Monitor's Middle East correspondent, wrote this story with an > >> Iranian > >> journalist who publishes under the pen name Payam Faramarzi and cannot > >> be > >> further identified for security reasons. > >> * > >> > >> *© 2011 The Christian Science Monitor* > >> > >> < > >> > http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45685870/ns/world_news-christian_science_monitor/# > >> > > >> > >> > >> Best, > >> > >> -John > >> =============== > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] > >> To unsubscribe, go to > >> https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > >> and follow the instructions there. > >> > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe, go to > https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. > _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
