The weight of an assassin's mace : vulnerabilities in the US military's satellite communications and China's information warfare threat

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 2005.Includes bibliographical references.Believing that an information Revolution of Military Affairs has occurred, the US military is currently transforming to achieve dominance over the full spectrum of deployment scenarios with a lighter, more mobile, and more capable force. Establishing a far-reaching, robust, ubiquitous ISR and telecommunications network, and a network-centered fighting doctrine are keys to this endeavor. Of the many systems needed, satellite communications are especially significant because they are the prime method of transmitting high quantities of information to remote and mobile units. The People's Republic of China too has become aware of the information Revolution of Military Affairs, as well as the vulnerabilities associated with it. Though the People's Republic is still in the process of modernizing its society and military, the doctrines and advantages of Information Warfare have not been lost to it. It seeks to equip itself with the IT and skill sets that are becoming increasingly more available to asymmetrically affect the information usage of a technologically superior adversary. As it stands, the military's use of satellite communications is vulnerable.(cont.) Though some satellite communications have inherent protective qualities, they are still susceptible to some variants of Electronic Attack and anti-satellite attack. Military-dedicated systems do not offer enough security, and the lack of bandwidth they provide forces the military to use much less secure commercial systems. It appears that the People's Republic presents only a moderate threat to the military's satellite communications. This will not always be the case. The rapid growth of People's Republic and its increasing informationalization, as well as the expanding US military demand for wideband systems and predictions of a continuing shortfall, all place the military's satellite communications in a precarious situation.by Benjamin M. Brooks.S.M

Technology Assessment for the Future Aeronautical Communications System

To address emerging saturation in the VHF aeronautical bands allocated internationally for air traffic management communications, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has requested development of a common global solution through its Aeronautical Communications Panel (ACP). In response, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Eurocontrol initiated a joint study, with the support of NASA and U.S. and European contractors, to provide major findings on alternatives and recommendations to the ICAO ACP Working Group C (WG-C). Under an FAA/Eurocontrol cooperative research and development agreement, ACP WG-C Action Plan 17 (AP-17), commonly referred to as the Future Communications Study (FCS), NASA Glenn Research Center is responsible for the investigation of potential communications technologies that support the long-term mobile communication operational concepts of the FCS. This report documents the results of the first phase of the technology assessment and recommendations referred to in the Technology Pre-Screening Task 3.1 of AP-17. The prescreening identifies potential technologies that are under development in the industry and provides an initial assessment against a harmonized set of evaluation criteria that address high level capabilities, projected maturity for the time frame for usage in aviation, and potential applicability to aviation. A wide variety of candidate technologies were evaluated from several communications service categories including: cellular telephony; IEEE-802.xx standards; public safety radio; satellite and over-the-horizon communications; custom narrowband VHF; custom wideband; and military communications

NASA compendium of satellite communications programs

A comprehensive review is given of worldwide satellite communication programs that range in time from the inception of satellite communications to mid-1974. Particular emphasis is placed on program results, including experiments conducted, communications system operational performance, and technology employed. The background for understanding these results is established through brief summaries of the program organization, system configuration, and satellite and ground terminal characteristics. Major consideration is given to the communications system aspects of each program, but general spacecraft technology and other experiments conducted as part of the same program are mentioned summarily

Information warfare and modern aircraft

The purpose of this thesis is to determine if modern aircraft are currently at risk of falling Victim to information warfare attacks or if they will be in the near future (less than 10 years). Defensive measures that are currently being used to protect this critical infrastructure will be discussed and evaluated for their effectiveness in preventing the degradation caused by these attacks. Every effort has been made to use reliable sources of information to present an accurate status of modern aircraft and the aviation infrastructure with respect to information warfare. With information warfare being such a recent topic, much of the most up-to-date information has not been published in traditional medium yet and therefore, the author had to augment his research by utilizing other sources , such as newspaper articles, magazines and the Internet. It was concluded that, to date, neither the airline industry nor the FAA has experienced large-scale attacks by cyber warriors, even though the industry is becoming more susceptible to such attacks This absence of attacks SHOULD NOT BE used to lull oneself into a false sense of security with the conclusion that the industry is properly protected from information warfare attacks. The reality is that these information warfare attacks can and are being successfully executed at an extreme cost and/or danger to the ill prepared and lucrative targets

Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms

The Joint Publication 1-02, Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms sets forth standard US military and associated terminology to encompass the joint activity of the Armed Forces of the United States. These military and associated terms, together with their definitions, constitute approved Department of Defense (DOD) terminology for general use by all DOD components

Continued study of NAVSTAR/GPS for general aviation

A conceptual approach for examining the full potential of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) for the general aviation community is presented. Aspects of an experimental program to demonstrate these concepts are discussed. The report concludes with the observation that the true potential of GPS can only be exploited by utilization in concert with a data link. The capability afforded by the combination of position location and reporting stimulates the concept of GPS providing the auxiliary functions of collision avoidance, and approach and landing guidance. A series of general recommendations for future NASA and civil community efforts in order to continue to support GPS for general aviation are included

NASA compendium of satellite communications programs

A comprehensive review of worldwide satellite communication programs is reported that ranges in time from the inception of satellite communications to mid-1971. Particular emphasis is placed on program results, including experiments conducted, communications system operational performance, and technology employed

A Comprehensive Review of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Attacks and Neutralization Techniques

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) have revolutionized the aircraft industry in this decade. UAVs are now capable of carrying out remote sensing, remote monitoring, courier delivery, and a lot more. A lot of research is happening on making UAVs more robust using energy harvesting techniques to have a better battery lifetime, network performance and to secure against attackers. UAV networks are many times used for unmanned missions. There have been many attacks on civilian, military, and industrial targets that were carried out using remotely controlled or automated UAVs. This continued misuse has led to research in preventing unauthorized UAVs from causing damage to life and property. In this paper, we present a literature review of UAVs, UAV attacks, and their prevention using anti-UAV techniques. We first discuss the different types of UAVs, the regulatory laws for UAV activities, their use cases, recreational, and military UAV incidents. After understanding their operation, various techniques for monitoring and preventing UAV attacks are described along with case studies