Posted on 08/16/2019 5:09:25 PM PDT by Mariner
The U.S. Navy, anticipating a future when a high-tech enemy could read its electronic communications, is going back to a hack-proof means of sending messages between ships: bean bags. Weighted bags with messages inside are passed among ships at sea by helicopters.
In a future conflict with a tech-savvy opponent, the U.S. military could discover even its most advanced, secure communications penetrated by the enemy. Secure digital messaging, voice communications, video conferencing, and even chats could be intercepted and decrypted for its intelligence value. This could give enemy forces an unimaginable advantage, seemingly predicting the moves and actions of the fleets at sea with uncanny accuracy.
Last week, a MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter delivered a message from the commander of an amphibious squadron to the captain of the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer. The helicopter didn’t even land to deliver it, dropping it from a hovering position before flying away. The message was contained in a bean bag dropped on the Boxer’s flight deck.
The bean bag system, as Military.com explains it, is nearly eight decades old. The system dates back to April 1942, when a SBD Dauntless dive bomber assigned to the USS Enterprise was flying a scouting mission ahead of the USS Hornet. Hornet, about to launch sixteen B-25 Mitchell bombers on a raid against Japan, was traveling in extreme secrecy to preserve the element of surprise. The Dauntless pilot encountered a Japanese civilian ship and, fearing he had been spotted, dropped a message in a bean bag on the deck of Hornet.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Encryption algorithms *might* be subject to attack or decryption... So why not go back to something immune to that: one time pads filled with random noise. These could be distributed to fleet units by courier prior to embarking, or via helo if a unit joined up. A single DVD could contain gigabytes of random numbers for the simple transposition cypher. There’s no algorithm or equation to be broken. No frequency analysis is possible.
“Then, the ship with the flash traffic would send the small set of character codes VIA MORSE CODE to the battle group with a transmission lasting no more than 30 seconds.”
I have been told the military no longer trains Morse code. I believe that is true but don’t know it for a fact.
MI Ping
If they were electric typewriters they radiated an RF signal.
No RF signal is secure from detection, and even it's presence is meaningful to a Sigint analyst.
Aldis lamps and morse code, semaphore, preset code words.
Often, simpler is better.
Somewhere along my military career, I remember being told that the safest way to send a message was by courier.
“Paulie hated phones. He wouldn’t have one in his house. He used to get all his calls second hand, then you’d have to call the people back from an outside phone. There were guys, that’s all they did all day long was take care of Paulie’s phone call.”
re: “There’s just nothing dumb about this, cause anything digital can be hacked or monitored.”
Not if using one-time pads ... BUT you have to share the ‘pad’ with those with whom you are messaging.
The bean bag technique would bypass your John Walker types that are ‘compromised’ too, because, they are sharing the code book with the enemy.
“I have been told the military no longer trains Morse code.”
It’s rare, at least.
It’s not a standard skill set.
It used to be certified with the Naval Enlisted Code (NEC) 2304.
It’s a requirement for Signalman.
Rare option for Radioman.
But essential for some Radio billets...like TACAMO aircraft, all shore stations which are required to listen to international distress frequencies by treaty etc.
The US Navy still can use Morse Code in emergency situations.
re: “No RF signal is secure from detection, and even it’s presence is meaningful to a Sigint analyst.”
It ALWAYS gives a bearing to the *source*.
“Encryption algorithms *might* be subject to attack or decryption”
The rarest of compromise.
More likely is a traitor from the inside.
Not always safe for the courier though.
My dad was an MP in WW-II. His job was Motorcycle courier between the various Units of Gen. Patton's Army. He was WIA in Belgium by a German sniper.
24 years later his only son was flying aboard a C-130 doing Classified Courier runs between our ASA units. As we were approaching NKP the crew chief lowered the back ramp to get some cooling breeze into the plane.
Just about then some Commie AA decided to light up. The tracers rounds were behind us. On the same flight path coming up behind us was an F-102. He flew right into the stream of AA. We landed safely. The F-102 crashed into the runway behind us. The pilot had ejected and was recovered.
“It ALWAYS gives a bearing to the *source*.”
If it’s 30secs or less it gives nothing.
Nobody, or no equipment can pinpoint a source that short with ANY confidence.
The Navy has issues staying out of the way of freighters and keeping the rust off of ships.
I hope you are right, but I am not counting on it.
That and more.
That would depend on what assets are up and running how much could be obtained.
re:
“If it’s 30secs or less it gives nothing.
Nobody, or no equipment can pinpoint a source that short with ANY confidence.”
BS.
Today, that is quite doable. MAYBE it wasn’t in YOUR day.
I can MANUALLY give you a bearing in under 30 secs if I have the freq already dialed in.
Using automated techniques (using wideband off-the-shelf SDR receivers) I can do it if you just ‘bump’ the mic button on any freq ...
DF (direction finding) has been my subject of study the last 10 years.
GPS has allowed TDOA (Time Difference Of Arrival) techniques to be used from both widely dispersed assets to those within the same theater and city even ... doesn’t matter the signal type either, its a simple matter of cross-correlation and according to GPS “time stamp”.
re: “Even in the 80’s I did it several times when I was working guardrail. If there were two aircraft up the fix happened as fast as I could push that button. “
Cooperative targets are easier than those that are expected +- 30 MHz of a target frequency; in the 80’s Doppler techniques (four vertical elements switched by diodes) worked well on anything with a fairly clean ‘carrier’ like AM aircraft radios or 2-way FM stuff.
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