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US believes Russian technicians helping Iraqi defense: official
ProLog via intellnet.org ^ | March 23, 2003 | Matthew Lee

Posted on 03/23/2003 7:06:29 PM PST by FairOpinion

WASHINGTON, March 23 (AFP) - The United States believes Russian technicians are helping Iraq jam satellite signals that guide bombs and military aircraft even as US, British and Australian troops advance on Baghdad, a senior US official said Sunday.

The official said Washington had evidence that personnel from a Russian firm were in Iraq attempting to help set up and operate a system that interferes with US global positioning technology.

"The system is complex and there is evidence that they (Russian technicians) have been trying to bring this system on-line and help the Iraqis operate it," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"We are extremely upset and have raised this at very senior levels with the Russians," the official said.

The official stressed there was no indication that the Russian government was involved, but said Moscow had been "extremely unhelpful" in addressing US concerns.

The official said Washington had confronted the Moscow-based Aviaconversiya firm with allegations that it had sold the system and sent personnel to Iraq and had been met with denials.

On Sunday, the firm again denied the accusations, although it has admitted Baghdad had been interested in acquiring the goods.

"They are just making this up," said Oleg Antonov, the director of Aviaconversiya. "Let them capture one of our personnel.

"They won't find any of our technicians in Iraq," he told AFP in Moscow. "The Americans are trying to find a scapegoat because their bombs are not falling as accurately as they want."

The senior US official said however that US intelligence had been able to match an electronic signal emitted by the system in Iraq specifically to the system sold by the Russian firm.

"It emits a signal that is specific to the equipment of this Aviaconversiya company and our intelligence people have been able to identify it," the official said.

The official confirmed a Washington Post report that said complaints about the sales of jamming devices by the firm had begun in June 2002.

At the time, however, the official said the Russians denied the company even existed despite the fact that it maintained an Internet site and was the subject of extensive media coverage in Russia.

"It was ridiculous, but now it's gone beyond that," the official said. "It is grotesque."

The Post story said two other Russian firms were selling weapons to Iraq in violation of UN sanctions -- but had declined to discuss specifics.

The State Department said it had repeatedly brought sales of "militarily sensitive equipment" to Iraq to the attention of senior officials in Moscow, including in the days leading up to the war, but had not received a satisfactory response.

"Such equipment in the hands if the Iraqi military may pose a direct threat to US and coalition armed forces," said Brenda Greenberg, a department spokeswoman.

"We regard this as a very serious matter," she said. "We thus have raised this issue with the Russian government a number of times, including at senior levels and particularly over the past two weeks.

"Their response so far has not been satisfactory," Greenberg said. "We hope that the responsible Russian agencies will take our concerns seriously."

Protests over the Aviaconversiya sales and assistance to Iraq intensified earlier this month when Russian Ambassador Yuri Ushakov was summoned to the State Department, the senior official said.

The official said the last complaint was made on Saturday to the Russian foreign ministry.

Washington has also protested transactions by two other Russian firms; one of which has sold anti-tank missiles and another that sold thousands of night-vision goggles to Iraq, the official said.

The latest of those transfers are believed to have occured as recently as February, the official added.

The Post reported that last month, US officials learned that an Iraqi order for night vision goggles was due to be shipped by a Russian firm and asked Moscow to halt it.

Russian officials replied by saying either that a few goggles had been given as gifts to Middle Eastern leaders or that it was the weekend and nothing could be done, the paper said, citing unidentified sources.

In addition, over the past two months, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's government has boosted its procurement of Kornet anti-tank missiles made by a Russian company named KBP Tula, the Post said.

The company was hit with US sanctions last year for selling similar weapons to Syria.


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: defense; gps; helping; iraq; iraqifreedom; jamming; roadtobaghdad; russia; technicians
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Apparently the Russians not only sold Iraq equipment but currently have technicians in Iraq actively helping them.
1 posted on 03/23/2003 7:06:29 PM PST by FairOpinion
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To: FairOpinion
Not good.
2 posted on 03/23/2003 7:07:56 PM PST by gaucho (Baghdad or bust!)
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To: FairOpinion
this should come as no surprise the russians are hoping this becomes similar to their afghanistan campaign
3 posted on 03/23/2003 7:08:49 PM PST by TheRedSoxWinThePennant
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To: FairOpinion
Bastards..
4 posted on 03/23/2003 7:09:56 PM PST by Porterville (Screw the grammar, full posting ahead.)
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To: Porterville
well their crap isn't working too well, kind of standard for the ruskies
5 posted on 03/23/2003 7:10:53 PM PST by KansasCanadian (Living the American Dream)
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To: FairOpinion
Pull ALL aid to Russia and warn the rest of the world, who ever is caught doing such before admitting, will be punished.

We have this power to put countries in very crappy situations just by holding a few bucks. We cant let these a-holes try to undermine our nations moral authority.
6 posted on 03/23/2003 7:11:29 PM PST by smith288 (Visit my gallery http://www.ejsmithweb.com/fr/hollywood/hollywood.php)
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To: FairOpinion
So would this help explain the reports of US missiles landing in Iran and Turkey? Or would that be heading into aluminum foil hat land....
7 posted on 03/23/2003 7:11:33 PM PST by Ophiucus
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To: TheRedSoxWinThePennant
You don't think that the Russians are holding a grudge against United States for arming Muslim Fundamentalist Mujahedeens?

Naaahh

(... DA ...)

8 posted on 03/23/2003 7:17:50 PM PST by bobi
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To: FairOpinion
Perhaps why we are shooting down Tornados and our missiles falling in Iran and elsewhere.

The French and Germans and now the Russians...with friends like these...

G.W.B. better have another look at Putin's "heart". It's black and smells of treachery and death.

9 posted on 03/23/2003 7:17:57 PM PST by KriegerGeist ("In war there is no substitute for victory" General Douglas MacArthur)
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To: FairOpinion
"It emits a signal that is specific to the equipment of this Aviaconversiya company and our intelligence people have been able to identify it," the official said.

Ok, so if they have been able to identify the signal, they should also be able to locate the source and turn it into a crater, right? This seems to be more media fearmongering to get those all-important advertiser dollars.

10 posted on 03/23/2003 7:19:58 PM PST by mindjam
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To: FairOpinion
China tells Tareq Aziz it supports Iraq (11/28/00)
U.S. Asks China to Explain Defense Workers in Iraq (2/21/01)
US blasts Russia, China for opposition to Iraq sanctions plan (6/26/01)
Iraqi military experts end secret China arms visit (3/21/02)
11 posted on 03/23/2003 7:21:28 PM PST by Orion78 (FREE TIBET!, FREE IRAQ! JUST BE SURE TO WATCH YOUR BACK!)
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To: FairOpinion
Aviaconversiya

Contact the Company

 tel (095) 299-54-54 157-92-78, fax (095) 99-5454 157-06-74,
 e-mail: no@rosintorg.ru
 Information service: (095) 742-35-77

Company

Company's name: Aviaconversiya,Ltd.

Manager-in-chief:

Office address: 103009, Russian Federation, Moskovskij region, Moscow, 2, Tverskaya Str.
Post address: 103009, Russian Federation, Moskovskij region, Moscow, 2, Tverskaya Str.

Activities
Company established 10 years ago has developed and produces: jammers for suppression receivers of different kinds radio systems: navigation ? GPS/GLONASS, most important radar of different wavelengths (for example HAWKEYE, AWACS, onboard and ground-based radar), mobile telephones, communication links. Jammers in most cases are based on the unified design philosophy ? by receiving of radio systems signals destined for suppression, storing these signals and using them by multiple read-out for forming any kinds of jammings for creation the specified scenario at the output of suppressed systems medical special coded electromagnetic signal generators for curing wounds and trophic ulcers, insults after-effects, drugs dependence, nerve system functioning disturbance (neurodermite, allergy, neuritis), inflammation of nerve fibres (myiasit, radiculities), relaxation after stress. Aviacor-Aviatzionny zavod, PJSC Pskovskaya Str., Samara, 443052, Russia Phone: +7-8462-926655. Fax: +7-8462-550707. E-mail: aviaprom

A search on Goggle returns a bunch of info.
For a search on the Russian military's cheap GPS jammer , the AviaConversia (150-200km effective radius in the size of a large flashlight). trac.wsmr.army.mil is the domain name of the US Army Training and Doctrine Command Analysis Center, White Sands Missile Range.
TRAC at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico (TRAC-WSMR) conducts a wide variety of analyses for TRADOC and HQDA, and DoD agencies, including military system Program Managers and the Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC). TRAC-WSMR is responsible for highly resolved analysis of brigade and battalion operations, life cycle costs of new equipment, and training effectiveness. TRAC-WSMR develops, maintains, verifies and validates, and exports a suite of combat models and simulations to support analyses of battlefield functional areas and weapon systems, and stimulation of field exercises, experiments, and training; and operational testing of new equipment under development.
I guess they're simulating what would happen if someone cracked military encryption and blocked their GPS guidance systems which would cause confusion and increase friendly fire accidents and expose assets to threat.

GPS Jammers and Spy-vs.-Spy

by Alex Mendelsohn ,ChipCenter Senior Technology Editor

How many of you remember Mad Magazine 's Spy-vs.-Spy cartoon? Do you recall the zany black crow-like spy sparring with the equally preposterous white spy?

Both would set up elaborate contraptions designed to blast the opposing spy into oblivion. In more than one of cartoonist Prohias' unlikely scenarios, both spies got zapped simultaneously in the end!

Real-world spy-vs.-spy antics focus on surveillance and espionage, yet the premise of one side dueling with the other using high-tech gizmos?to the mutual demise of both players?is plausible.



Medium-Tech Attackers

Consider the demented al-Qaeda terrorists who struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Their training includes low- and medium-tech strategies such as concealing nitroglycerine as perfume or aftershave lotion. Surreptitiously carried aboard an aircraft, it's detonated using nothing more than a battery and a concealed blasting cap.

Speaking of concealable devices, there are those who contend that a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) jamming system, built in a home workshop, can disable the reception of GPS signals. Designs for such jammers are now kicking around the Web.

All it takes is a small transmitter modulated to emit Gaussian noise centered at GPS's main 1.57542 MHz frequency. Carefully aimed, the jammer might be able to wreak havoc with consumer GPS spread-spectrum receivers, such as those handhelds that were pressed into service in Desert Storm during the Gulf War. A user might be able to jam military GPS receivers, too.

Distance Is the Weakness

GPS receivers rely on signals from four or more visible satellites in a constellation of orbits at distances of more than 13,000 miles. "The distance and power of the constellation signal is the chief weakness of GPS, that is, jamming or spoofing of the low-power signal," says Murray Rosen, Technical Director of New Jersey-based Electro-Radiation Inc. (ERI).

In a paper entitled Protection Solution to GPS Vulnerability , Rosen points out that the key to precise GPS navigation is processing very weak GPS signals. "A commercial GPS receiver is vulnerable to a simple 1 W jammer at up to 135 km," says Rosen.

"A typical tracking military receiver using inertial aiding (with about 62 dB of jam immunity) can lose code track within 54 km of a 1 kW CW jammer, and within 17 km of a 100 W noise jammer."

Homebrew GPS Denial

Consider the GPS jammer that 22-year-old Romain Lievin built while a student at France's ESISAR-INPG Grenoble engineering school. Lievin's GPS jammer may eventually be available commercially. Here's a photo of one of his prototype circuit boards.

One "hobby" GPS-denial system that I found on the Web uses a Motorola MC145151 PLL-based frequency synthesizer, a Micronetics M3500-1324S VCO module, and a Fujitsu MB506 divide-by-256 pre-scaler.

The VCO feeds the pre-scaler, generating a 1.575 GHz signal that's divided down and routed to one port on the PLL's comparator. The reference is an oscillator running an El Cheapo 10 MHz crystal. Ultimately a signal is derived that's in the audio range, where it's easy to deal with. No strip-lines in that domain, eh?

Augmenting the PLL is a hash generator based on Zener diode noise. A 12-cent 2N2222 transistor amplifies the noise. This develops broadband crud out to 100 MHz.

In this home-workshop GPS jammer, the hash is filtered and then boosted by a ubiquitous National Semi LM386 audio amplifier IC, and then mixed with the VCO's error-tune signal. The result? RF looking like random noise centered on 1.57542 GHz.

Boost That Signal

Next comes a bit of RF amplification. The Web article shows a Sirenza Microdevices SGA-6289 module as an RF pre-driver, feeding a Toko 4DFA-1575B-12 ceramic bandpass filter (Digi-Key p/n TKS2609CT-ND). Once filtered, the signal is applied to a Watkins-Johnson AH102 power amp.

For an antenna, the author suggests an off-the-shelf GPS receiving antenna, or a Ramsey Electronics Model DA25 microwave discone. The DA25 is advised for omnidirectional use, but the article emphasizes that a log periodic array can boost the signal, and help shield the user's own GPS receiver from being jammed or detected!

Would you prefer building your homebrew jammer with surface-mount technology? According to the same Web primer, dielectric GPS patch antenna elements can be used. Recommended is Toko's DAK Series (Digi-Key p/n TK5150-ND). "The small antenna-element size is perfect for hidden or portable operations," says the article's author.

Russian Capitalism At Work

Is this improbable? Maybe so, but my ears perked up when I caught a blip on the evening TV news about portable GPS jammers that are being sold to the Iraqis by the Russians. Presumably these units come from the Moscow-based Aviaconversiya Ltd. electronics company.

The company has been flaunting its handheld GPS jammers at military hardware and air shows since 1999. Claimed to be able to jam American GPS and Russian GLONASS satellite transmissions, the Aviaconversiya emitters strike me as true spy-vs.-spy products.

By the way, a Web search reveals that Aviaconversiya is on a list of hundreds of U.S. Department of Defense contractors whose contracts exceed $25,000. (Curious, don't you think?)

So just what does Aviaconversiya's little battery-powered $40,000 box do? Well, for starters, it delivers a hefty 8 W of microwave RF into its high-gain Yagi antenna. That gives a user possible GPS denial out to hundreds of miles. If fitted with an omnidirectional antenna instead of the Yagi beam, the Aviaconversiya system is touted as capable of preventing a cruise missile from finding its mark.

Threats Real or Imagined?

Whether homemade or off-the-shelf, are GPS jammers a bona fide threat? Mario Casabona, president of ERI, thinks so. Writing in a paid "advertorial" that appeared in the December, 2002, issue of GPS World magazine, Casabona stated: "With the schematics you get on the Internet, you can build a jammer that's a real concern, and the U.S. military is particularly interested."

Some experts are more sanguine, but still anxious. In an article appearing in the October 3, 2001, issue of Global Positioning and Navigation News (Vol. 11, No. 20), the author says that U.S. aerospace and defense spokesmen are confident that the U.S. arsenal of anti-jamming technology, coupled with the ability to knock out brute-force high-power GPS jammers with missiles, would ultimately prevail in a conflict.

ERI's Rosen seems to agree. "Adding 35 dB of additional CW anti-jam and 25 dB of noise anti-jam reduces GPS vulnerability to 1 km," he says.

However, some experts insist that military and civilian GPS signals can be "easily" jammed. The Global Positioning article's author argues that the cost/benefit calculation needed to fix the problem could turn Pentagon military budget planning "on its ear," with huge investments in the anti-jamming systems needed to combat portable jammers.

"In the struggle outlined by President Bush, America's sharpest engineering minds, with millions of dollars at their disposal, may be locked in long-distance intellectual combat against an Afghani radio technician in a mud hut, holding a soldering iron and surrounded by off-the-shelf parts," suggests the Global Positioning author.

In the long run it's more than likely that well-funded Western military will prevail. Rockwell Collins, for one, has already developed an anti-jamming system using so-called pseudo-satellites, or pseudolites . The pseudolite system uses airborne or ground-based signals to mimic GPS satellite signals.

Existing GPS munitions and military GPS receivers can be upgraded with pseudolite software to lock on to these new signals. GPS satellite signals act as pseudolite positioning references, but the pseudolite signals would be local and strong, overpowering brute-force high-power jammers (moreover, tactical scenarios call for jammers emitting GPS denial signals to be detected, and then knocked out).

The Crows Plug It Out

Rockwell Collins, under contract to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is already building Precision Lightweight GPS Receivers, or PLGRs. Known as "pluggers" by users, the handheld pseudolite receivers are now standard-issue in the U.S. military. Rockwell Collins reports that hundreds of thousands of pluggers have been shipped.

ERI's Casabona says that pluggers offer 30 dB to 40 dB of inherent anti-jamming capability. "That can be increased with special anti-jamming antennas and by interfacing to other specialized receivers," he adds.

Another military contractor, Raytheon Systems Ltd., has designed anti-jam antennas. The company's GPS Antenna System-1, or GAS-1, is an analog configuration. It points antenna nulls in the direction of incoming interference to attenuate jamming signals.

Over a thousand GAS-1s have been deployed, but Raytheon's spy-vs.-spy roadmap includes a digital receiver, too. It will tout nulling and multi-beam steering, and will use DSP to enhance jammer suppression. It will filter out jammer noise, while preserving the current GAS-1 form, fit, and interfaces.
12 posted on 03/23/2003 7:21:46 PM PST by gaucho (Baghdad or bust!)
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To: FairOpinion
Red herring.
13 posted on 03/23/2003 7:22:00 PM PST by First_Salute
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To: Geist Krieger
I wonder if the Russians, the Germans and the French are giving Iraq satellite intelligence too. I wouldn't put it past them
14 posted on 03/23/2003 7:24:42 PM PST by virgil
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To: FairOpinion
Find them and bomb them.

Fair is fair.
15 posted on 03/23/2003 7:31:22 PM PST by Uncle Miltie (Wheat is Murder! (Tilling slaughters worms.....))
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To: FairOpinion
Jammers are active devices. Active devices have radiation sources. We have missiles developed specifically to take out radiation sources.
16 posted on 03/23/2003 7:32:23 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Even if the government took all your earnings, you wouldn’t be, in its eyes, a slave.)
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To: KansasCanadian; FairOpinion
well their crap isn't working too well, kind of standard for the ruskies

Supposedly JDAM's have been designed to ignore signals coming from the wrong directions. The military part of the GPS signal is spread spectrum and very hard to jam.

17 posted on 03/23/2003 7:51:38 PM PST by Paleo Conservative (Gulf War II: The Mother of All Surrenders)
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To: gaucho
any other tech-types out there see the obvious crap in this report ?
18 posted on 03/23/2003 8:03:53 PM PST by RS
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To: RS
I thought this was cool in this company's resume

medical special coded electromagnetic signal generators for curing wounds and trophic ulcers, insults after-effects, drugs dependence, nerve system functioning disturbance (neurodermite, allergy, neuritis), inflammation of nerve fibres (myiasit, radiculities), relaxation after stress.
19 posted on 03/23/2003 8:13:47 PM PST by RS
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To: FairOpinion
Home-On-Jam is a feature of the AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missile.


20 posted on 03/23/2003 8:22:15 PM PST by kerosene
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