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China's GPS: Military Threat?

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China's GPS: Military Threat?

 

Peter B. de Selding hit the front page of Space News (subscription only) the other day with a scoop about a Chinese plan to build a 24-satellite navigation network, called Compass, in roughly the same orbit as the American and European sat-nav systems, GPS and Galileo. But there’s more: the Chinese are apparently “threatening” to use an encrypted signal for military ops that would actually overlay – and maybe interfere with – "M-Code," the Pentagon's GPS broadcast. That's the signal that keeps everything from precision bombs to flying drones on track.

 

Space Jam.jpgYou might remember that the Pentagon had a right royal hissy fit when the Europeans proposed to overlay Galileo’s encrypted signal on the M-code, because under those circumstances the U.S. military wouldn’t be able to jam Galileo during any hostilities without blocking its own ability to access the GPS signal. So, you would figure collective hair would be on fire over at the five-sided building at the news of the Chinese plan, right?

 

Well, maybe and maybe not. Turns out this jamming biz is not as simple as it sounds. According to CDI’s resident techno-geeks, Haninah, Eric and Ryan, it seems that we could, at least theoretically, jam the Chinese satellites even if the GPS signals are overlain (over-layed? laid over?). It would be difficult, and we’d need a lot of jammers to ensure that enough satellites in the network were shut down to degrade the system’s functionality. But jamming the signals of individual satellites is a tough challenge, so we’d likely end up opting instead for “frying” – in that the easiest way to shut them off would be to them slam them with a pulse that would put the electronics permanently out of commission.

 

That's probably not an option we'd want to take with Galileo constellation -- which, after all, is costing the Euros a serious wad. Considering that the U.S. isn’t likely to be at war with Europe anytime soon (perhaps despite the efforts of the French), it’s probably safe to assume that we’d only be talking about stopping up Galileo if some bad guy was using it against us – and it is pretty unimaginable that under those circumstances that the U.S. would want to be faced with having to blow (electronically that is) Eurohardware out of the sky.

 

Instead, we'd probably want to use local jammers, to block out a given area's satellite receivers on the ground. GPS signals (and Galileo signals) are weak. So it's pretty dang simple to drown them out using an in-theater jammer putting out a stronger signal over a certain geographic footprint. But that only works if our M-code and their signals aren't crossed-up.

 

But the question of being able to jam the Chinese isn’t the only problem raised by the potential Compass signal overlay. The CDI techno-geeks, as well as one of my P-gon buds who actually knows a thing or two about satops, explained that the Compass constellation itself could be used by the Chinese as sort of a giant jammer in space to muck up GPS. The Compass sats could transmit garbage that disabled GPS, or transmit deceptive signals that would not disable it, but cause it to broadcast incorrect data. They could do this intermittently and sneakily – to undermine confidence in GPS/Galileo reliability (Beijing to Washington, “We’re so sorry, bugs in our system.”) Or they could equip the Compass satellites with high-powered transmitters linked to a big, red DISABLE GPS button at PLA HQ for use in any conflict with the U.S.

 

Before I get slammed for pretending to be Bill Gertz, it is worth noting, as Gregory Kulacki from the Union of Concerned Scientists pointed out, that there isn’t any money in the current Chinese five-year budget plan for such a satnav system, and we’d be talking about big, big money. Nor could Gregory find any info in the Chinese-language technical literature in the public domain about the specs for such a potential system. So, maybe the Chinese just want to scare the Euros into letting them in on their signal? Stay tuned, we’ll know more next Monday when Space News will be publishing a follow-up story.

 

-- Theresa Hitchens

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What's wrong with other countries developing technology this good? US will always win wars, I mean, they've got nukes, advanced weapons, etc.... So why would you guys worry? I mean, the US can beat the hell out of anyone...

 

 

P.S. Maybe not. If the US wages war with oil producing countries that give the US their oil, the US might lose...

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:roll:

 

did you read the article?

And yes we have nukes. So does Britian, France, Israel, China, Russia, India, Pakistan, N. Korea, and possibly Iran. (I may have missed one or two)

 

And we would never use nukes unless someone used them against us first. Then we would take the world to hell with us.

 

As far as armed forces go, theres a lot more involved than who has the biggest tanks (us, but thats beside the point) For example, this new Chinese system should allow them to muck with our GPS signals, and that would be bad. Imagine fighting a modern war without smartbombs, cruisemissiles, and having to use "old-school" techniques (aka paper maps and a compass) to figure out where units are, and calculating artillery WWII style. Against a modern enemy who has access to GPS and guided munitions. Yeah, not good.

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So was Germany, by numbers, back in the day....

 

Now if the politicians would leave our military alone, we would have absolutley no problems. Keep people like the UN and Amnesty International out of affairs ect ect and we are good to go.

 

And whats whith all of the Pentagon Budget cuts? HELLO!? We're in a friggin war here, and we have Middle Eastern fanatics getting their hands on Nuclear weapons and Comunist superpower on the rise.

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:roll:

 

Its nowhere near that much. And cutting military spending and thus weakening our nation will not solve debt problems. We have hugeass debt because of the tremendous amount of money that goes into foreign aid, much of which we dont require be payed back.

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i have to say our nation for as strong as it is ,is pretty weak and knotted having low wealth population, gun fights, drug issues, CRIME itself

 

 

I DEFINETLY HATE/LOVE AMERICA

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It really doesnt matter much, every 'big' country has enough nuclear weapons to destroy any opposing nation or country, at which time that nation or country would use their nukes in retaliation.

Its nukes themselves which prevents nukes from being used, as any country would not dare to be on the recieving end of them.

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And we would never use nukes unless someone used them against us first. Then we would take the world to hell with us.

Nope. The Bush Administration issued a revised National Security Strategy in September 2002 which explicitly allowed for pre-emptive attacks:

Now if the politicians would leave our military alone, we would have absolutley no problems.

You don't want your military to be subordinate to the civilian leadership? You want a military that doesn't have to account for its actions to the elected representatives of the people? Eek!

 

We have hugeass debt because of the tremendous amount of money that goes into foreign aid,

Hardly - foreign aid constituted 0.14% of the US GDP in 2003. In terms of contributing causes for your large public debt, foreign aid rates pretty low.

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Most of debt comes from past wars... I mean REALLY in the past...

 

The Louisiana Purchase

Revolutionary War

Civil War

 

 

All that jazz. Also, the National Debt.

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WWI, WWII ect

 

I want a military that is responsible to its leaders, and doesnt have to answer to a bunch of petty senators and congresspersons who muck up issues and stall for time so they can score "points" for their own advancement. Anytime something "questionable" happens, the politicians get involved, and its a whole new soap oppera. A military that cant act on the spur of the moment for fear of political retaliation is useless. How would you like it if Iran was threatening to Nuke Israel (assuming they had actual Nukes at the time of the threat) and there were US Spec ops teams poised to go in a neutralize the Missiles carrying the warheads, but they couldnt because Congress had to take 2 years to review the procedures and make sure that they got past the US and All the humans rights groups, then take a coffeebreak while voting, do a recount, ect. By the time the opperation is OKed by them, its useless. Plus the confidentiality is compromised due to several laws about "hidden" agendas.

 

theoretical situation, but highly probable in the near future.

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You want a military that doesn't have to account for its actions to the elected representatives of the people? Eek!

Good point, but there is a fine line. They should be kept in check, but not on a short leash like what we saw in Vietnam. They need to be able to do their jobs, which is to kill people and break things.

 

i have to say our nation for as strong as it is ,is pretty weak and knotted having low wealth population, gun fights, drug issues, CRIME itself

Oh I know! Crime, drugs and violence are so bizarre, unheard of, and UNIQUE to America! :roll:

The "low wealth population" point is a lie. Also, a lot of the violence and division in the country is due to the culture thrust on the public by garbage like we see in your avie Mr. "Gangsta" :roll:

 

Its nukes themselves which prevents nukes from being used, as any country would not dare to be on the recieving end of them.

The MAD policy :wink:

It's an interesting stalemate, it really is.

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Guest MadBadger

ugh....

 

USA Just want to make sure they can Pwnzorn anyone they want.... mean come on we all know China gona be as strong as USA very quickly anyway (like 50yrs)

 

Also USA screwed the Galeleo sideways tbh.... The freq we wanted wasnt the exact same one as the USA use for the GPS it was a couple Hz out (120Hz i think).... Just the USA wanted a 'safety margin' :tired:

 

Also don't this point to the USA expecting some sort of military action with China? First F-35 Squad moved near China..... Long Range missiles that can hit China R&D....... Pacific fleet size increased....... and don't Afganistan make a nice air/ground base ;)

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Most of America is middle class. The lower class is usually bums and drug users.

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Guest MadBadger
Also, a lot of the violence and division in the country is due to the culture thrust on the public by garbage like we see in your avie Mr. "Gangsta" :roll:

 

ya..... don't start that bull**** BWare.

 

TSBO.... Lower (working) Class are people who, If they left there Jobs tommorow would last upto 3-6 weeks on cash in the bank ;) I'm lower class.... that make me a Bum/Drug user? I'm sorry that really disgusts me you can say that.

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omg, k!

 

:roll:

 

The guy was bitching about how gang violence (shootings, drugs, etc) were destroying America while he calls himself a "gangsta." I felt it reasonable to point out that glaring contradiction.

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USA Just want to make sure they can Pwnzorn anyone they want.... mean come on we all know China gona be as strong as USA very quickly anyway (like 50yrs)

If you're talking in terms of military strength, the US military is in a class of its own when it comes to operational resources, technological prowess and force-projection capabilities. Put simply, I don't think the PLA poses, or will pose in the foreseeable future, much of a threat to the USA's military dominance.

 

If you're talking in economic terms however, then that's a different issue :). Even then, I'm inclined to say that predictions that China's economy will overtake the USA's by 2050 are hopelessly optimistic (optimistic from China's point of view, that is.)

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Guest MadBadger
The guy was bitching about how gang violence (shootings, drugs, etc) were destroying America while he calls himself a "gangsta." I felt it reasonable to point out that glaring contradiction.

 

BWare the guy is most prob White and thinks calling himself Renegangsta is a 'cool' play on the fact he plays Renigade and thinks he's Gangsta ;)

 

Maybe wrong.... he could be Gangsta... I dont know him I could be judging too quick....

 

 

(p.s. don't try saying I act Gangsta.... Ima Playa :P )

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Very true Shocker. The US is still a juggernaut, and likely will be for at least the rest of our lives, but it still scares us seeing these other (somewhat hostile) countries like China really getting their military and economic engines running :wink:

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Guest MadBadger

Just when has China been Hostile to the US? face it China is a growing Super Power and the sooner the US realises that the better! hell its US products made in China thats given it this boost ;)

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The guy was bitching about how gang violence (shootings, drugs, etc) were destroying America while he calls himself a "gangsta." I felt it reasonable to point out that glaring contradiction.

 

BWare the guy is most prob White and thinks calling himself Renegangsta is a 'cool' play on the fact he plays Renigade and thinks he's Gangsta ;)

 

Maybe wrong.... he could be Gangsta... I dont know him I could be judging too quick....

 

 

(p.s. don't try saying I act Gangsta.... Ima Playa :P )

I know I know... the point is that he's endorsing the lifestyle. I'm not actually SAYING he's in a gang. How many gang members browse gaming websites? :lol: They're all busy screwing themselves and their communities over.

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Guest MadBadger
How many gang members browse gaming websites?

 

SoulJa.... He's got some stuff running on the side ;) serrious I know him in real life.... He's the type that YOU would run screaming from if you met him at night.

 

 

p.s. ima check ZH froum then im gone

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Oh I'm sure :lol:

 

I think you're underestimating me here... I grew up in LA, and regularly got into fights, some gang related (never ones I picked- they were pretty much unavoidable). I'm over 6'2", 195, and can bench press 285 lbs at present. You have me pegged as a spoiled rich kid with no real life experience, but you're dead wrong.

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Guest MadBadger

I'll E-mail SoulJa to get on and tell you himself ;)

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