[Infowarrior] - US Struggles with ‘Electronic Fratricide’ in Afghanistan

[Richard Forno]

U.S. Struggles with ‘Electronic Fratricide’ in Afghanistan
	• By Nathan Hodge
	• November 16, 2009  |
	• 1:13 pm  |

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/11/us-struggles-with-electronic-fratricide-in-afghanistan/

In Afghanistan, western militaries use radio frequency jammers to keep  
troops safe from remotely-detonated bombs. But those jammers and other  
gadgets have contributed to a “pollution” of the airwaves so severe  
that over 200 systems at Afghanistan’s main air base can’t talk to one  
another.
This problem of so-called “electronic fratricide” first appeared in  
Iraq, where jammers made it tough to control drones and ground robots.

Last year, for instance, Commander William Guarini, the head of the  
U.S. Navy’s Riverine Squadron 1, publicly complained that the  
service’s Silver Fox drone (pictured here) was “very susceptible” to  
electromagnetic interference. “In particular with our convoys, with  
our electronic countermeasure systems going off, they really degrade  
our range,” he said. “And then we have a problem recovering [the  
drone].”

As the military sends more gear to Afghanistan, members of the  
military’s tight-knit electronic warfare community are worrying about  
a repeat of the problem. Writing in the latest issue of Aviation Week  
& Space Technology (subscription only, sorry), reporters Dave Fulghum  
and Robert Wall describe concerns recently aired at a meeting of the  
Association of Old Crows, the professional organization for electronic  
warfare specialists.

Equipment is flowing into the main bases at Kandahar and Bagram (where  
the classified Area 84 is growing exponentially) at a rate that alarms  
some U.S. Army officials. They have publicly complained (at the recent  
Old Crows Assn. show) that at Bagram Air Base alone there are 200  
systems that cannot communicate with one another. Critics predict the  
polluted electronic environment around Baghdad—which has slashed the  
range of data links and foiled the coverage of some radars and  
improvised explosive device-jammers—is quickly being duplicated in  
Afghanistan.

Further complicating matters, Afghanistan has a complex, mountainous  
terrain that can often make it more difficult to operate many of the  
sensors that were used successfully in Iraq. Quoting an anonymous  
senior defense official, Fulghum and Wall report that the buildup of  
drones and manned aircraft in Afghanistan was “being crippled by a  
lack of aviation ramp space, personnel and sensors that can deal with  
terrain that bears almost no resemblance to Iraq.”