MILCOM - October analysis
Paging the Grim Reaper
Until 17th September, most people had probably forgotten about pagers. This somewhat retro communications technology seemed a relic of the past which enjoyed its heyday in the 1980s and 1990s. Eventually supplanted by cellphones, few people now used pagers, that is apart from the Hezbollah Lebanese Shia Islamist insurgent group.
In February Hassan Nasrullah, Hezbollah’s secretary general, recommended that members purchase and use pagers believing that Israeli communications intelligence experts had infiltrated the organisation’s cellphone traffic. It seems that Israel’s counter-insurgency community was only too happy to meet Mr. Nasrullah’s demands. Hezbollah’s pager of choice was Gold Apollo’s AR924 usually made in Taiwan, but in this case licenced through a Hungarian intermediary. The pagers Hezbollah received had a slightly different design from those sold by Gold Apollo. The accompanying instruction booklet made no mention of the three grams (0.1 ounces) of pentaerythritol tetranitrate; a powerful military-grade explosive they pagers contained.
From 12.30 Zulu time on 17th September, these pagers began exploding across Lebanon and Syria, a second wave of attacks occurred on 18th September, this time detonating handheld Hezbollah radios which had been similarly doctored. It seems likely that, in both cases, the devices detonated after receiving a radio signal modulated in a particular way to cause them to explode. By the end of the attacks, 42 people had been killed and over 3,500 injured. Mr. Nasrullah would die several days later on 27th September after the Israeli Air Force attacked his headquarters in Beirut.
The audacious nature of the pager and handheld radio attacks illustrates that no insurgent group can hope to attain complete security over their communications hardware supplies, short of manufacturing these devices themselves. Likewise, eschewing electronic communications in favour of paper messages and couriers will greatly slow the pace of operations and create serious logistics challenges. Both options are vexing for any insurgent organisation, but as Hezbollah has experienced, they may be the only two choices on the table.
MILCOM Analysis - October
MDO for NATO
NATO is moving ahead with its embrace of the Multi-Domain Operations approach to warfare which stresses inter- and intra-force secure, redundant connectivity at strategic, operational and tactical levels.
Getting Connected
The US Department of Defence now has a baseline version of its Joint All-Domain Command and Control architecture. Additional capabilities are expected in the future.
Delta Force
Ukraine’s Delta situational awareness, and command and control tool could provide NATO and allied nations with a useful template for future intelligence management systems supporting multi domain operations.
October Radio Roundup
Armada’s monthly roundup of all the latest news in the military communications product, programme and operational domains.
MILCOM Analysis - September
Weather Forecasts
The United Kingdom is moving ever closer to the introduction of its Skynet-6A military communications satellite with ongoing propagation surveys to support the new spacecraft.
MUOS Earns its Wings
Communications and networking for US Army airborne forces has taken a step forward following trials of a new architecture that could reduce the hardware burden for airborne forces.
Radioflash! Episode 15: JADC2 Issues
In episode 15 of Armada’s Radioflash! podcast we talk to Leslie Hulser, executive vice president, corporate strategy of Persistent Systems. We examine the status of JADC2, what this overarching effort has achieved to date, potential problems and shortcomings, and the work that still needs to be performed.
September Radio Roundup
Armada's monthly roundup of all the latest news in the military communications product, programme and operational domains.