Does Iran have access to satellite jamming technology?
December 20, 2011 5 Comments
By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A European intelligence official has said that Iran downed an unmanned American surveillance aircraft earlier this month by remotely sabotaging its satellite navigation system. The official, who has not been named, told The Christian Science Monitor that the Iranians used a state-of-the-art laser system to effectively “blind” the American spy satellite that guided the drone’s global positioning system (GPS). In doing this, Iran’s military was able to remotely skyjack the aircraft and assume control over its navigational system. The paper also published an exclusive interview with an Iranian electronic warfare specialist, who claimed he was part of a team that hacked into the drone’s communication frequency and reprogrammed its GPS data. Eventually, the Iranian specialists managed to cause the unmanned aircraft to switch into autopilot mode, and guided it to land relatively smoothly on Iranian territory, where it was eventually captured intact by Iranian authorities. If this is true, it will mark the first-ever indication that the Iranian state is in possession of sophisticated satellite jamming technology. In an important development, Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ali Akbar Salehi, told Iran’s government-run IRNA news agency on Saturday that the American drone was brought down by Iranian armed forces, without any foreign assistance. If this is so, then does it mean that the Iranians developed the state-of-the-art jamming system themselves? This would be highly unlikely, according to John Bolton, former US Ambassador to the United Nations. Bolton told Fox News last weekend that there are rumors the Russians may have recently sold Iran “a very sophisticated jamming system”, which may have been put to use against US spy drones in recent months. If the rumors are accurate, said Bolton, “it means a lot else is at risk too”, and urged Western countries engaging in technical surveillance against Iran to take all necessary precautions. It should be stressed that the US government admits that the RQ-170 Sentinel, built by Northrop Grumman, was indeed captured by Iran. But it claims that the drone crash-landed in the Iranian desert after a technical malfunction, and that it was found by the Iranians in pieces. Washington alleges that Iranian authorities then reassembled and painted the aircraft so as to make it appear undamaged. At least one American military source has claimed that the US drone shown on Iranian television is fake.
intelNews.org 
i would like to see what’s behind the certain (the covering facade below the craft) and what shape the landing gear is in. that could answer the question whether it crash landed or was guided down. puzzling why that is not being shown.
I told everyone a while back, Iran had an ace up their sleeves, and are more than ready to combat any attacks on them through an army of cyber warriors, they have seen the effectiveness of cyber warfare and after countering it in their systems i.e stuxnet and afetr other nasty probing and debilitating viruses they have come out with a new set of weapons. They have had jamming technology and also other cyber weapons which can actually control systems, they may already be using them in a stealth manner where we are not even aware of their intrusions !!, they are far more advanced than the west think and this has cyber experts worried in the U.S and Israel.
Carl Clark, Freelance Intelligence Researcher, Thetford. U.K
That it is a surprise is a reflection of the pathetic media spewed out prejudice of the decade that has allowed us to believe that nations like Iran are fanatically religious and therefore cannot be capable of rational scientific thinking that is independent and innovative. The West no longer has a monopoly on good ideas, good science and high technology.
We should remove the bilge filters we have been forced to view the Middle East through and start seeing it for what it is. Iran today is complex, diverse, sophisticated, independent. Despite economic hardship imposed on it by the ‘democratic’ hegemon America Iran produces ferociously competitive students and scientistsin the academic sphere. It shouldn’t be surprising they will defend their nation with every asset they have, regardless of how much or little they dislike their regime.
BMZ I agree totally, they are a very powerful force who are ready to repel any attacks.
The Chinese and Russians have supplied Iran with technology, jamming is a pretty easy area and disruption techniques against electronic based systems such as drones etc can easily be developed, I have developed a small system that can take out a model plane from 100 metres so I am sure with a few million something similar could be put out from a more concentrated source to knock out command and control systems based in the vehicles.
If you developed an industrial laser you have the foundation to build a satellite disruptor capable of taking a satellite out of its orbit, this would then give a level playing field to Iran, who in my view should be left alone to run their own country the way they see fit, the west are only after more resources and for puppet regimes as they have have in Afghanistan and Iraq to be put in place. When the Shah and his murderous henchmen were kicked out, oil companies and the military planned to be back and in charge within 30 years, they are now panicking as they invested a lot of money and they are now four years over so the time has come to get back in and very quickly they have their President who will allow this and all the players who matter around him, all Iran are doing is defending their interests and their country.