The US Predator drone can fly armed or unarmed and has been/is being used in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia. It can fly for hours remotely controlled by pilots thousands of kilometers away – providing useful ‘intelligence’ or acting as a remote control bomb.
It is a highly sophisticated piece of military hardware – and it doesn’t come cheap.
However, in a blindingly stupid move – perhaps bred from an arrogant belief in the superiority of the USA military might compared to the ‘insurgents’ in Iraq and Afghanistan, the video signals relayed from the predator back to it’s controller have not been encrypted.
Oops – cue red USA military/CIA faces
Seems insurgents have been intercepting the predator data using a piece of software available on the Internet for less than $30. US was alerted to fact insurgents were intercepting the predator data when -
“US military in Iraq apprehended a fighter whose laptop contained files of intercepted drone video feeds.”
The Pentagon is now urgently encrypting all of its drone video feeds from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan but with 600+ unmanned vehicles and thousands of ground stations to be upgraded the process is expected to take some time to complete.
Oh well, better late than never !!!
