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U.S.: Iraq May Try to Jam Satellite Feeds (I pity anyone who comes up against that kind of power)
ABC News ^ | March 12 2003 | AP

Posted on 03/12/2003 2:36:36 PM PST by knighthawk

Iraq could try to jam U.S. military satellite signals during a possible invasion, but the United States has defenses against such attempts, Pentagon officials said Wednesday.

Indonesia reportedly jammed signals from a commercial satellite leased by the Pacific nation of Tonga in 1997, and Iraq could try to do the same thing, said the Air Force's space operations director, Brig. Gen. Franklin Blaisdell. Iraq also reportedly is seeking ways to jam the Global Positioning Satellite signals that help guide U.S. bombs.

"Any enemy that would depend on GPS jammers for their livelihood is in grave trouble," Blaisdell said at a Pentagon news conference.

Also Wednesday, Gen. Tommy Franks, who would run the war in Iraq, arrived at the military's command center in Qatar. It was not known whether he would return to the United States, visit other nations in the Persian Gulf region, or stay in Qatar to position himself for the start of military action.

U.S. aircraft dropped 120,000 leaflets over several sites between Baghdad and the southern city of Basra. The messages included a warning to the Iraqi military not to use chemical or biological weapons against U.S. or allied troops, according to U.S. Central Command.

The Air Force canceled a combat training exercise scheduled this month at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., citing the likelihood of war soon in Iraq.

At the Pentagon, Blaisdell and Army Col. Steven Fox promoted what they said was America's dominance of space as a key strength in any future military operations. Satellites allow U.S. commanders to see what is going on in hostile countries, communicate with soldiers and pilots, and guide precision weapons.

"I pity anyone who comes up against that kind of power," Blaisdell said.

The Army has more than 1,000 transmitters that help it keep track of soldiers and units while a battle is going on, Fox said. Soldiers can carry the transmitters in their packs or on their belts, and equipment such as helicopters or tanks can have the transmitters attached, Fox said.

As it did during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the Defense Department is buying access to commercial communications satellites to help serve the massive bandwidth needed to connect all the high-tech gear, Blaisdell said. The military also successfully launched a broadband communications satellite on Monday, he said.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: iraq; jam; satelite; satellite; spacejam; warlist

I pity the fool who comes up against this kind of power, sucka

1 posted on 03/12/2003 2:36:37 PM PST by knighthawk
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To: All
For a laugh, go over to this site:

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Barracks/2311/

And click on 'Mr. T is p.ssed off!'
2 posted on 03/12/2003 2:37:40 PM PST by knighthawk
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To: MizSterious; rebdov; Nix 2; green lantern; BeOSUser; Brad's Gramma; dreadme; Turk2; Squantos; ...
Ping
3 posted on 03/12/2003 2:37:50 PM PST by knighthawk
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To: knighthawk
I can't tell you how delighted I am to read about MOABs, troop build-ups, we've got a can of whoop-ass. But when are we going to use it?

If left to the U.N., France will take over and you know what that means. Oh, wait a minute, this time they're allied with Germany, believe it or not. But the U.N. is going down the toilet and it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of diplomats. Sitzkrieg sucks.

4 posted on 03/12/2003 2:43:09 PM PST by xJones
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To: knighthawk
Oh, lord - please let them try to jam our satellites! Wouldn't the jammers show up bright as day on our electronic detection equipment, making them perfect targets for missiles that are targetting electronic emissions? This sounds like the U.S. military is pulling a Brer Rabbit on Saddam - "Oh please Mr. Saddam, don't throw us in that briar patch - er, I mean don't use GPS jammers"...
5 posted on 03/12/2003 2:45:05 PM PST by egarvue (Martin Sheen is not my president...)
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To: xJones
Desert Storm was a can o' whoopass.

This one's going to be a crate.
6 posted on 03/12/2003 2:46:41 PM PST by Only1choice____Freedom
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To: knighthawk
i believe the air force launched a brand new satellite yesterday out of florida
7 posted on 03/12/2003 2:52:21 PM PST by try phecta tom
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To: knighthawk
A jamming antenna would be a fire and forget situation for radiation guided missiles. Turn it up and break the knob off. We be jammin..
8 posted on 03/12/2003 2:55:45 PM PST by Conspiracy Guy (RW&B)
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To: knighthawk
Talking about jamming...how about us jamming the uplinks from treasonous reporters in Baghdad!
9 posted on 03/12/2003 2:58:48 PM PST by Voltage
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To: *war_list
http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list
10 posted on 03/12/2003 3:03:08 PM PST by Free the USA (Stooge for the Rich)
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To: xJones
Sitzkrieg

LOL! That is the best one-word definition I've seen of the U.N. process.

11 posted on 03/12/2003 3:05:34 PM PST by Scott from the Left Coast
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To: knighthawk
Yuh, we should be real worried about Iraqi technical countermeaures.

Right.

12 posted on 03/12/2003 3:21:10 PM PST by angkor
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To: egarvue
Wouldn't the jammers show up bright as day on our electronic detection equipment, making them perfect targets for missiles that are targetting electronic emissions?

Virtually all of our guided weapons include a "target the jammer" function. Any jammer then becomes the impact point.

13 posted on 03/12/2003 3:24:56 PM PST by CholeraJoe (Curtis Loew was the finest picker who ever played the Blues)
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To: CholeraJoe
"target the jammer" so the bombs can be direct to where the enemy wants them to go? That does not make sense.
14 posted on 03/12/2003 3:30:42 PM PST by longtermmemmory
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To: longtermmemmory
It's only one option. Others might include "target last clear position" or "compute impact using last known speed and heading."

That's why they call them smart weapons. They're pretty hard to jam reliably.

15 posted on 03/12/2003 3:41:23 PM PST by CholeraJoe (Curtis Loew was the finest picker who ever played the Blues)
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To: longtermmemmory
"target the jammer" so the bombs can be direct to where the enemy wants them to go? That does not make sense.

The jammer merely attempts to keep the bomb from getting a good position fix.

"Home on jam" mode tells the bomb to steer for the loudest jamming signal. The bomb hits the jammer, blows it to small pieces, and other bombs can have a nice, jamming-free ride to the target.

16 posted on 03/12/2003 3:46:57 PM PST by Poohbah (Beware the fury of a patient man -- John Dryden)
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To: CholeraJoe
Why in the world would an enemy want to jam the GPS system on a smart bomb so it becomes a dumb bomb and lands willy-nilly. Only an exceedingly stupid or an exceedingly evil enemy. And Saddam and his orcs are both.
17 posted on 03/12/2003 3:48:40 PM PST by johnb838 (ROLL not STROLL. Liberate Iraq. Bomb Saddam, Crap Chiraq)
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To: knighthawk
I think the only thing thats gonna be jammed, is the bomb shelters.

U.S. aircraft dropped 120,000 leaflets over several sites between Baghdad and the southern city of Basra.

Take heed Iraqi's. The "Mother Of All Bombs" is gettin ready to rain on your "mother of all wars" parade.

The messages included a warning to the Iraqi military not to use chemical or biological weapons against U.S. or allied troops, according to U.S. Central Command.

I wonder what else the messages included? Whatever it is, I'm sure its good sound advice.

18 posted on 03/12/2003 3:56:42 PM PST by Pipe Dog
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To: All
And just how are they going to jam anything when one of those electro magnetic pulse thingees lands in Baghdad and fries every IC for miles around?
19 posted on 03/12/2003 5:01:56 PM PST by navyblue
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