19 ms·
My theory is Iran is jamming the link16 iff.
by DarkmSparks 7mo ago
My theory is Iran is jamming the link16 iff.
- esseph 7mo agoHighly unlikely. Highly.
- DarkmSparks 7mo agoWhy? Specs for link16 jamming have been circulating since before the invasion of ukraine, there is a whole DoD technical report dedicated to trying to update it knocking around somewhere. Iran claim to have used it to bring down US drones in the past.(1) 1. https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2011/1215/Exclusive-Iran-hijacked-US-drone-says-Iranian-engineer https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2011/1215/Exclus...
- Jtsummers 7mo agoThat link is about GPS spoofing, not Link 16 jamming, those are two different radio systems and two different attacks.
- DarkmSparks 7mo agoIts both. They claimed They jammed the control link so the operators couldnt control it, then used gps spoofing to make its "lost communication fly home" protocol land itself in hostile territory.
- esseph 7mo agoIFF system uses coded pulses at 1030mhz and 1090mhz. It's a totally different system from Link16.
- DarkmSparks 7mo agoJamming the transponder would not be enough, it would also need to at least jam the identification/location messages in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TADIL-J https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TADIL-J And also at least the satellite versions. And all of which are part of the S300 systems EW package Iran possess, the Cobra V8 has a touted range of 250km. Also been demonstrated now in Ukraine. See also https://www.armyrecognition.com/news/army-news/2026/iran-deploys-s-300-air-defense-and-cobra-v8-ew-system-to-protect-tehran-from-u-s-air-strikes https://www.armyrecognition.com/news/army-news/2026/iran-dep...
- esseph 7mo agoEdge to edge Kuwait to Iran is around 200km. The launchers weren't on the edge of course, they're deeper in the country. That would be military suicide to have them right on the border, as you lose the layers of protection for close, low range threats like helos. Except this is not what happened, nor could it over Kuwait at the time, because it was too far away.
- monster_truck 7mo agoSaw some unsubstantiated claims that the planes shot down didn't even have it on
- DarkmSparks 7mo agoThat is the basis for my theory. Not being on And Being on but jammed look the same from the perspective of the one shooting them down. Also, I wonder how resilient it is to the gps spoofing that been going on. If they managed to trick it into identifying itself as a few hundred miles from where it actually was, then very hard to know where it actually is. All of which is well within Irans technical capabilities.
- monster_truck 7mo agoIt is subtantially more likely that this individual plane was tampered with or maintained incorrectly than these signals were anywhere close to being effectively jammed (but still less likely than them not having it on in the first place). The power levels they are operating at are well into "do NOT stand in front of this" territory
- DarkmSparks 7mo agoiff is not high power, if it was then anything equipped with iff would all be vulnerable to any anti radiation missile made in the last 70 years.
- monster_truck 7mo agoYou should know better