Pentagon Looks To Thwart Russian Tech Attacks Inwards Syria

Jack Detsch 

Islamic State majuscule of Raqqa, has relied heavily on the integration of unopen air back upward amongst American-backed proxy forces such equally the Syrian Democratic Forces. Former military machine officers told Al-Monitor that advanced Russian electronic warfare systems could potentially endure used to supply faux targeting information to U.S. of America troops coordinating unopen air support, mitigating their effectiveness.

“If [the enemy] tin mess amongst those computers to supply incorrect data, you lot could potentially telephone yell upward inwards airstrikes against your ain position.”

“If [the enemy] tin mess amongst those computers to supply incorrect data, you lot could potentially telephone yell upward inwards airstrikes against your ain position,” said Adam Routh, a question associate at the Center for a New American Security in addition to a one-time Army Ranger who helped straight U.S. of America unopen air back upward inwards Afghanistan. “It’s a high-risk activity. You’re non typically miles away. You’re typically hundreds of yards away.”

A major challenge, Routh said, is that the U.S. of America military machine is used to operating inwards “permissive” environments such equally Afghanistan, where at that spot are fewer sophisticated challenges to deny American airpower on the battlefield. But if troops tin no longer communicate or develop targeting data, “close air back upward becomes to a greater extent than time-consuming or impossible,” he said.

A elevation U.S. of America commander who spoke to Al-Monitor said that the military machine is waking upward to the severity of the threat afterward getting outpaced past times Russia inwards recent years.

“On the communications front, nosotros convey to secure our networks,” said U.S. of America Army Lt. Gen. Paul Funk, who commanded the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State inwards Republic of Iraq in addition to Syrian Arab Republic until June. “Our adversaries are going to adjust all the time, in addition to then nosotros convey to adjust faster in addition to to a greater extent than frequently.”

Funk, who similar a shot commands the Army’s III Corps out of Fort Hood, Texas, said he was non aware of the DARPA-led program.

Since entering the conflict inwards 2015, Russian Federation has rotated “everybody who’s anybody” inwards the military machine through Syria, said CNA’s Bendett. Valery Gerasimov, who leads Moscow’s armed forces, has described the Syrian battlefield equally a preview for futurity wars. That includes ingraining electronic warfare (EW) into military machine training.

“Whenever nosotros verbalize most Russian EW systems, it’s the constant training,” Bendett said. “They’re doing this to a greater extent than or less the clock.”
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