S65

I was wondering what kind of ELINT capabilities our EW planes like the RC-135 Rivet Joint have. I've heard things that I believe are apocryphal, as in the USAF having the ability to turn on cell phones to track users or being able to listen to emissions from washing machines being used from many hundreds of kilometers away.

ELINT sounds real interesting; just where does that information go? The Rivet Joint factsheet says it delivers information to theater and national level consumer. Wiki indicates the ability to identify, detect and geolocate signals which sounds pretty cool in itself. I'm not familiar with military EW -- would it be realistic for the Rivet Joint to monitor wide swaths of frequencies? How about actually interceding by making its own emissions?

The electronic sword and dagger stuff has always fascinated me.

Bluesman

If anybody answers you on this forum or in any other way with anything that you could not find for yourself in open-source, I will make it my mission to have that person prosecuted, if at all possible.

NOT AN APPROPRIATE LINE OF INQUIRY, my friend.

__________________
"The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it, and if one finds the prospect of a long war intolerable, it is natural to disbelieve in the possibility of victory."
- George Orwell

braindead

Damn , the forbidden fruit is always the sweetest . I´ve wanted to ask some similar questions , but i knew what would be the answer and who would give it !

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Bluesman

I used to be RC-135 aircrew as a Vietnamese linguist. And I never flew a single dam' mission! (Until I went to Saudi Arabia in 2000, as part of Operation SOUTHERN WATCH. It was AWESOME, too!)

But I'm still a part of that community, so I'm constantly alert for security vulnerabilities or attempts to compromise security by getting somebody to say more than they should in the UNCLAS realm.

S65

Ah, sounds good -- I'll stop asking that which shouldn't be asked. I think the only electronic intelligence-centered material I've ever read was from the 80s. It makes sense that this would be secret information.

This is one of the more telling sources, I guess I answered my own questions. This article states that the intelligence gathered often goes directly to the ultimate consumer, or the people who put weapons on target.

Rivet Joint: Recon Ready
FixedRJs.avi

@Master Sergeant (corrected!) Bluesman: I didn't know they put linguists on there, that's interesting. Thanks for the warning by the way!

gunnut

That's Master Sergeant Bluesman.

Captain Bluesman is his boss.

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"Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

Ucar

So in a short conversation we have observed some of the more remarkable capabilities of the RC-135. Let us summarize :

1 - It does not need to be airborne, in fact the crew are not required to be on the plane for the system to function. The system tracks communications 24/7.
2 - The system is higly efficient in locating or triangulating all manner of communications, not only phone conversations, or other electronic jingle, but messages left on public boards as well.
3 - It has a coverage area of all US territory from a single armchair. Imagine how much it covers once the systems gets airborne (not that it needs to)
4 - The crews speak Vietnamese, and fly patrols over Saudi Arabia, where their linguistic skills could be put to effective use. This speaks volumes about USAF crew management and allocation

Do not question the RC-135, it is already reading your thoughts

Finally I lay myself at the mercy of Bluesman and US courts for revealing some of the Classified capabilities of the RC-135 system. Please do not fry me with microwaves.

Foremost

Whilst I don't where the info goes, but I know where it all happens, god it's HUGE!! the floor area is 1,350,000 square feet & there are 15,000 employees it's astounding, it's situated at Langley, Virginia, go here & prepare to be amazed!!; U.S. Electronic Espionage: A Memoir

RustyBattleship

Loose Lips Sink Ships.

And as for frying with microwaves, on 20 minutes last night they showed the military "Ray Gun" that will do just that - from half a mile away.

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Able to leap tall tales in a single groan.

Foremost

This maybe a little off topic, but I marvel at the system of guiding pilotless aircraft, where the operator sits at a screen hundreds of miles away from the area of operations, it's been likened to playing a computer game, & it's been calculated that one pilotless aircraft, can do as much damage as a squadron of piloted ones by dropping many cluster bombs, as I understand it the system isn't operational yet, what are your thoughts on this Ucar, will it ever get off the ground? [heh heh, pardon the pun]

salgado

hiiii