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Russians Jamming US GPS Signals for Drones in Syria

U.S. military surveillance drones operating in Syria are having their signals jammed by the Russian military, seriously affecting U.S. military operations, according to American officials.

The Russians began jamming some smaller U.S. drones several weeks ago, the officials said, after a series of suspected chemical weapons attacks on civilians in rebel-held eastern Ghouta. The Russian military was concerned the U.S. military would retaliate for the attacks and began jamming the GPS systems of drones operating in the area, the officials explained.

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., reacted to the news of Russian scrambling Tuesday by saying “Russia wants to undermine our interests at every turn.”

“It is insane to think that Russia is anything but an adversary,” said Sasse.

Jamming, which means blocking or scrambling a drone’s reception of a signal from a GPS satellite, can be uncomplicated, according to Dr. Todd Humphreys, the director of the Radionavigation Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin.

“GPS receivers in most drones can be fairly easily jammed,” he said.

Humphreys, an expert on the spoofing and jamming of GPS, warns this could have a significant impact on U.S. drones, causing them to malfunction or even crash. “At the very least it could cause some serious confusion” for the drone operator on the ground if the drone reports an incorrect position or is lost, he said.

U.S. analysts first caught the Russian military jamming drones in eastern Ukraine four years ago, after the invasion of Crimea, according to Humphreys. He said the jammers were initially detected as faint signals from space, bouncing off the earth’s surface. The jammers “had a pretty significant impact” on the United Nations surveillance drones that were attempting to monitor the area, grounding the fleet for days and halting intelligence gathering from the air.

The U.S. won’t comment as to if the jamming has caused any drones to crash. However, the jamming appears to affect only the smaller reconnaissance drones and not the larger, armed MQ-1B Predator or Reaper drones.

To read the entire article from NBC News, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

US Military Can Now Down Drones Flying Over US Bases

If you own a commercial or privately-owned drone, you now fly over any military base at the risk of losing your aircraft. The Pentagon has given the military the green light and new guidelines allowing the military to down drones flying near or over select US military bases.

The classified guidance was first issued back in July by Defense Secretary Bob Work and the updated guide lines were then issued to domestic US military installations on Friday. These updated guidelines for base commanders was designed to help bases communicate with local communities about the new restrictions.

“The increase of commercial and private drones in the United States has raised our concerns with regards to safety and security of our installations,” US Navy Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters at the Pentagon Monday.

Military analysts have long been concerned about the possibility of drones being used against the US for espionage purposes. Additionally, terror groups like ISIS have been able to weaponize commercially available drones, increasingly using them in combat in Iraq and Syria.

It is not clear how the military would down a drone should the need arise but the Defense Department has developed a series of countermeasures capable of bringing down drones. Some of these have been deployed to places like Syria and Iraq. While conventional weapons could be used to shoot down a drone, other countermeasures include non-kinetic methods like the use of radio waves to disrupt drone flight.

The Pentagon has worked closely with the Dept. of Homeland Security on these measures and allows the military the options of using conventional weapons to shoot down a drone or other countermeasures include non-kinetic methods like the use of radio waves to disrupt drone flight. Local commanders will now have that option if a drone is deemed to fly over a base that is deemed sensitive or pose a specific threat.

To read the entire article from CNN, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia