Mobile phones have revolutionized the way war is documented, providing snapshots of life on the front lines, glimpses of the latest military equipment, and horrific images of death and destruction. A US Army officer says they can also be deadly to soldiers who wear them. They learned this the hard way, among other things. Russians.
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Army trainers are warning soldiers about the dangers of taking cell phones during operations, Maj. Gen. Curtis Taylor told Foreign Policy reporter Jack Deitch.
“We showed the soldiers: “Hey, your cell phone can kill you.”said Taylor, commanding general of the National Training Center and Fort Irwin.
He referred to a training incident there He and his team were able to locate an undetectable Apache helicopter that had penetrated their air defenses because the pilot's phone was traveling at 120 miles per hour.
Taylor compared the dangers posed by cell phones to smoking cigarettes during World War II, when the spark of a match or the glow of a cigarette could help snipers spot enemy targets.
— The cell phone is the new cigarette in the trenches Taylor says.
Ukraine tracked Russian mobile phone data
The Russo-Ukrainian War was characterized by the use of cellular data to track enemy positions. Drawing attention to a January report by Enea (not to be confused with the Polish company Enea) addressing cybersecurity A Ukrainian attack on a Russian barracks in the city of Mikivka, eastern Ukraine, on New Year's Eve 2022.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported this The attack occurred after Russian reservists turned on their mobile phones, allowing Ukrainian intelligence agents to pinpoint their location.
The area was then attacked by M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS). Russian sources claim that 89 soldiers were killed in the attacks, while Ukraine estimates their number at about 400.
“It is already clear that the main reason for what happened was the soldiers’ operation of mobile phones and their widespread use – contrary to the ban – within enemy territory,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement issued after the incident. arms.”
She added, “This factor enabled the enemy to identify and determine the coordinates of the soldiers' locations to launch the missile attack.”
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Russia is likely to use similar tactics to its advantage.
It is known to use the Leer-3 electronic warfare system capable of identifying 2,000 phones within a 5.9 kilometer range, potentially revealing Ukrainian locations, as Sky News previously reported.
Electronic warfare uses the electromagnetic spectrum, including signals such as radio, infrared or radar, to disrupt and reduce an enemy's ability to use those signals, according to defense maker Lockheed Martin. This has played a major role in the conflict so far due to its ability to identify targets and counter drone attacks.
While using a cell phone on the battlefield can be a fatal mistake, it also has its advantages. The Enea report states: “The mobile device – despite its threats – has utility as a backup communications system; a means of documenting enemy movements, producing post-operational reports or other intelligence; and as a propaganda/content creation system.”
The above text is a translation from American edition of Insidercompletely prepared by the local editorial office.
Translated by: Dorota Salos
