Iraq has obtained global positioning satellite scrambling devices that could play havoc with U.S. smart bombs, the Pentagon says, according to a Fox News Channel report.
According to the report, the GPS scramblers – about the size of a clock radio – have been positioned around the borders of Iraq in an effort to throw satellite-guided bombs away from targets.
In Desert Storm, guided ammunitions made up only 20 percent of the bombs dropped on Iraq. However, in the impending war, the Defense Department would rely heavily on the more accurate smart weapons.
Nearly 100 percent of the bombing sorties planned in an Iraq attack would be conducted using this newer technology, according to Pentagon sources. This has been made possible by a retrofit to existing "dumb" bombs – the Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM. It screws onto the tail and around the belly of a conventional 1,000- or 2,000-pound unguided bomb, giving it far more precision even than the old laser-guided bombs of the Persian Gulf War.
GPS systems also are used to guide missiles to targets – including Cruise missiles.
Pentagon sources reportedly told Fox News Channel they were concerned about the GPS scrambling devices obtained by Iraq and were studying their options.
Iraqis may have GPS jammers
Up to 200 blocking devices may have been sold, officials say
By Jim Miklaszewski NBC NEWS
Jan. 9 — NBC News has learned from senior U.S. officials that the Iraqi government is believed to have bought a large number — perhaps 200 — of Russian-made global positioning system jammers, which can disrupt GPS signals. The devices, each about the size of a cigar box, may be able to fool the precision-guided bombs and missiles that would form the backbone of the U.S. military arsenal in a war with Iraq.
“THEY HAVE BEEN trying to buy them,” said one U.S. official. “They have been in the market. They are not that difficult to obtain, so we have to believe that they have them. The question is their effectiveness.” The concern is so great that the U.S. Air Force is testing some weapons against the jammers. The United States anticipates that more than 80 percent of the munitions used in any war on Iraq would be precision-guided munitions using GPS. One official said the jammers’ “effectiveness is questionable,” claiming that only a broad network of such equipment could throw U.S. bombs off targets.
Some officials fear that the Iraqis would put the jammers on mosques and residential buildings, but Air Force officials do not believe that is possible. The Pentagon is believed to have long had the capability to jam GPS signals. Some experts in nonmilitary applications of GPS technology have said that the Defense Department has likely been selectively jamming GPS signals in Afghanistan since the start of the air campaign in October 2001. Commercial airlines rely on GPS technology for transoceanic navigation. GPS receivers, which sell for about $100, have increasingly been used by hikers, commuters and law enforcement agencies.
