“...let’s tell the enemy how to negate our air advantage by giving them targets to kill on the ground!” [camle, post 6]
“...this article is giving the enemy ideas on how to defeat us.” [camle, post 9]
You’re behind the times. Between 50 and 100 years.
JTACs and other forward-observer troops don’t give target ID nor location in the clear.
They use encoded radio transmissions and grid references.
Even in the grid coordinate system, sending location information presents minimal risk: without knowing the coordinate origin location and measurement system, an adversary listening to radio traffic will hear nothing but a string of numbers.
As far back as 40 years ago, tactical air-ground radios could be equipped with encryption subsystems, encoding all transmissions. They could be re-keyed daily or more often, negating adversary attempts to crack the codes.
I was a USMC enlisted Forward Observer for 81mm mortars in Vietnam and the Field Radio Operator for the FO team. No one got near me in a firefight because they knew that radio operators were a favorite target of the NVA/VC. (M-60 machine gunners were, perhaps, an even more favored target).
Later, as a USMC officer and pilot, I served a tour with an infantry battalion as a Forward Air Controller (FAC) and with an artillery battalion as an Air Liaison Officer (ALO). In all three cases, the FO/FAC/ALO is there to serve the ‘Grunts’, providing massively increased firepower to the boots on the ground.
For some unknown reason, enemy forces seem to disapprove of this assistance.
/S