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| Afghanistan |
| U.S. Struggles with 'Electronic Fratricide' in Afghanistan |
| 2009-11-17 |
| In Afghanistan, western militaries use radio frequency jammers to keep troops safe from remotely-detonated bombs. But those jammers and other gadgets have contributed to a "pollution" of the airwaves so severe that over 200 systems at Afghanistan's main air base can't talk to one another. This problem of so-called "electronic fratricide" first appeared in Iraq, where jammers made it tough to control drones and ground robots. Last year, for instance, Commander William Guarini, the head of the U.S. Navy's Riverine Squadron 1, publicly complained that the service's Silver Fox drone (pictured here) was "very susceptible" to electromagnetic interference. "In particular with our convoys, with our electronic countermeasure systems going off, they really degrade our range," he said. "And then we have a problem recovering [the drone]." As the military sends more gear to Afghanistan, members of the military's tight-knit electronic warfare community are worrying about a repeat of the problem. Writing in the latest issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology (subscription only, sorry), reporters Dave Fulghum and Robert Wall describe concerns recently aired at a meeting of the Association of Old Crows, the professional organization for electronic warfare specialists. Equipment is flowing into the main bases at Kandahar and Bagram (where the classified Area 84 is growing exponentially) at a rate that alarms some U.S. Army officials. They have publicly complained (at the recent Old Crows Assn. show) that at Bagram Air Base alone there are 200 systems that cannot communicate with one another. Critics predict the polluted electronic environment around Baghdad--which has slashed the range of data links and foiled the coverage of some radars and improvised explosive device-jammers--is quickly being duplicated in Afghanistan. Further complicating matters, Afghanistan has a complex, mountainous terrain that can often make it more difficult to operate many of the sensors that were used successfully in Iraq. Quoting an anonymous senior defense official, Fulghum and Wall report that the buildup of drones and manned aircraft in Afghanistan was "being crippled by a lack of aviation ramp space, personnel and sensors that can deal with terrain that bears almost no resemblance to Iraq." |
| Posted by:Uncle Phester |