Military jamming from the United States and South Korea

Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine and their state sponsors have “very definitely” been using advanced electronic warfare equipment, and the Defense Department has been working to discern how effective these were in GPS signal jammer command-and-control networks and GPS frequencies.

On the precision-guided munition side, the US Air Force Research Laboratory at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is studying a kind of seeker that directs bombs to detect and destroy GPS jammers, called home-on-GPS jam, or HOG-J.

The Murmansk-BN is a world’s most powerful long-range electronic warfare (EW) system developed by KRET, part of Rostec Holding. The EW system are aimed at disrupting radio communications at a maximum range of more than 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles). The jammer is specifically geared at tackling high frequency communications systems, including the High Frequency Global Communications System.

Now it appears that North Korea, determined to drive U.S. forces off the Korean Peninsula, may have successfully jabbed at this Achilles’ Heel. Despite Pentagon denials, South Korean military reports contend that covert jammers in the North Korean hilltops likely triggered a U.S. spy plane’s “emergency landing.”

South Korean military documents, obtained by the Seoul media, tell a different story. A military report to lawmakers details a U.S. military RC-7B propeller plane, outfitted with surveillance gear, ending its flight near the North Korean coastline early after cell phone signal jammer overcame its GPS equipment.

Military jamming can make drones crash, interfere with tactical communications, and even jam or change GPS signals to confuse the enemy. The first use of electronic counter-measure jamming traces back to WWII. Radar-controlled artillery were taking down a lot of Allied planes. These systems employed radar signals to lock and track aerial targets and direct anti-aircraft fire. When a critical allied operation was to take place, RF jammers were placed by resistance operatives in close proximity to these weapons. Newsreel film footage shows howitzers spinning wildly and firing randomly because of the jammers. The designers of the cannons were too arrogant to take the possibility of jamming into account so they never incorporated a “manual-override” switch.