Intel and Recce

[Stryder50]

Intelligence is useful information on your enemy that will help you fight and win effectively. Often the result of various means of Surveillance and Reconnaissance. Hence the title and focus of this thread.

 

[Stryder50]

Here's an interesting article on this;

Phantom Warships Are Courting Chaos in Conflict Zones​

The latest weapons in the global information war are fake vessels behaving badly.
...
On September 17 last year, the largest ship in the UK's Royal Navy, the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, steamed majestically towards the Irish Sea. The 283-meter-long fleet flagship was flanked by an escort of destroyers and smaller ships from the UK, Dutch, and Belgian navies. The six vessels moving in close formation would have made an awe-inspiring spectacle—if they had actually been there.

In fact, satellite imagery of their supposed locations shows nothing but deep blue sea, and news reports suggest the warships were actually scattered in distant ports at the time. The Queen Elizabeth and its flotilla were previously unreported victims of a disturbing trend: warships having their positions—and even entire voyages—faked using the automatic identification system, a wireless radio technology designed to prevent collisions at sea.

According to analysis conducted by conservation technology nonprofit SkyTruth and Global Fishing Watch, over 100 warships from at least 14 European countries, Russia, and the US appear to have had their locations faked, sometimes for days at a time, since August 2020. Some of these tracks show the warships approaching foreign naval bases or intruding into disputed waters, activities that could escalate tension in hot spots like the Black Sea and the Baltic. Only a few of these fake tracks have previously been reported, and all share characteristics that suggest a common perpetrator.

By international law, all but the smallest commercial ships have to install AIS transponders. Using GPS data, these devices broadcast their identity, position, course, and speed to other ships in the area every few seconds, helping to keep crowded waterways safe. Military vessels are not obliged to broadcast AIS but many do when navigating busy ports—sometimes under assumed identities.
...
Although the range of these VHF radio signals is limited, a global network of public and private shore-based AIS receivers—and now fleets of orbiting satellites—also pick up AIS signals, which sites like MarineTraffic and AISHub then aggregate and make publicly available online. While fake data here does not directly threaten maritime safety—ships rely on their onboard systems rather than third-party sites—aggregated AIS data is now used for things like cargo tracking, search and rescue, monitoring environmental crimes, and identifying sanctions busters.


Bjorn Bergman is a data analyst working for SkyTruth and Global Fishing Watch who has been investigating fake AIS tracks for years, usually to uncover illegal fishing. In March this year, Bergman read a Swedish newspaper story in which the Swedish navy said the locations of nine of its vessels had been faked on MarineTraffic.
...

Phantom Warships Are Courting Chaos in Conflict Zones

The latest weapons in the global information war are fake vessels behaving badly.

www.wired.com

 

[Stryder50]

Notice also the other interesting articles to link at the upper right side ...

Former Army Intel Director Breaks Down Spy Satellite Scenes From Movies & TV​

Former Army Intel Director Breaks Down Spy Satellite Scenes From Movies & TV

Keith Masback, former director of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance integration for the US Army, takes a look at spy satellite and surveillance scenes from a variety of television shows and movies and breaks down how accurate they really are.

www.wired.com