Russian soldiers apparently have a track record of selling whatever military equipment and supplies they can steal in order to supplant their meager pay, including their bestest secure radios, called Azart:
The Ukrainians know all about Azart because soon after Russian troops began receiving them in 2017, many also showed up on the black market, where anyone could buy one. The Ukrainians did so and, along with NATO, discovered what Azar could do and what its weaknesses were. Ukrainian and NATO tech experts concluded that, with proper countermeasures, the Azart radios would become a major liability for Russian commanders and it was.
As the article explains, the encryption feature of Azart radios halves the range of the radios. The frequency-hopping feature also cuts the range. So the Russians have resorted to single-frequency and in-the-clear communications. Apparently, one of the reasons that the Russians have been stuck to the roads is that their radios are unreliable, which implies to me that they have to use the millenia-old method messengers. It also would explain why the Russians may be shifting into defensive positions, where they can run telephone lines, a century-old method.
There's no reporting that I am aware of that the Russians are using carrier pigeons.
11 comments:
RE: Carrier Pigeons. I once read that the US sent thousands of carrier pigeons to France when the US joined the war. Those pigeons were all eaten by Parisians.
Thanks for this link, too...
Strategypage.com has some serious salient analysis, not just the page you link too.
You beat me to it, Comrade. I too was wondering about Pigeons. It can't be far behind. I love seeing the mighty Russian army flounder.
w3ski
Yum, roast squab....
Russian comms:
Knowledge superseeds fancy equipment. There is what to do and why
its important. Those 1 year conscripts are basically untrained
fodder that can't even follow orders. As a result thy yammer on
cell phones and any radio saying too much and giving their position
via radio location or outright.
Transmitting in the clear using FM/SSB or phone lines (real wires)
is in itself not terrible if one understands they may be listened
to. To work around that things like brevity codes or slang limited
to the understanding or the smaller group can go far to obscure the
message. However that is limited to tactical messages whose life
is usually limited to the moment, as 5 minutes from now that action
or info is useless. Basic case is "truck to left, shoot". They
also need identifcation signals to insure the they are not
being spoofed with false messages.
Cell phones are a trap, they are always looking for a tower (pinging)
and depending on apps and all generally easily intercepted or worse
false messages inserted. Their pinging makes them suitable as targets
as in shot the source of that signal. That makes them a danger by
their existence alone.
Strategic messaging, usually a can of encrypted worms. These are
messages that fill the command and control stream as well as logistical.
Example is proceed promptly to grids 31-24 and take buildings. Another
might be need ammo and food packs at intersection road 23 and 100. Both
in the clear and unencrypted could (has for Ukranians) been an invitation
to meet and intercept their russian counterparts. In those cases messages
have a life span allowing time for action.
An example of in the clear using basic (very basic!) radio was Code talkers
of WWII. It was two level coding, Navaho language for obscurity and then
the working pair had their Navaho words for things like Big bird meaning
bomber or bring river for water suppy. the level of detail allowed things
like forward spotting (tactical) as well as logistics (bring litters, mess
kits, water , guns, ammo, fuel...). Further they were trained to keep the
messages short to avid direction finding. They had procedures for jamming
(agreed alternate frequencies).
US Army or other services train people that will talk or may talk on
radios to know all this and much more. Its a fact that ground troops
in the various sandboxes used basically ham FM VHF/UHF HTs for their
better battery life, frequency agility, and range. The users were
also smart in their use by limiting them to tactical messages. While
not supported or endorsed by upper brass all knew they were effective
as everyone could have one and knew how to use it effectively.
Training makes the soldier, good training make the soldier effective.
The Ukrainians knew this and apparently communicated it down as far
to the civilian level.
Eck!
Heh ~ smoke signals
They could also use heliographs.
Russians also transmitted in the clear in 1914 and 1941.
Really? I kind of doubt that the Imperial Russian Army had tactical radios in 1914.
Here is a picture of what radio had become by then.
https://earlyradiohistory.us/sec013.htm
Telegraph was Civil war, here. Military understood the need for
rapid communications.
Also WWI was the beginning of radio intercept and all that follows
from that.
FYI the fist transatlantic transmission was 1901. By 1904 Marconi was
doing nightly news service to subscribing ships. Regular Transatlantic
radio telegraph service was 1907. By 1912 the Titanic sinking
summoned help via radio and was heard in NY and the wire services
(some using radio-telegraph) had it world wide within hours.
Tactical radios as we know them might not have been as portable
as liked but it was movable.
As a general thing early radio both its implementation and application
is a history of innovation. Its a history rich in landmarks and events.
Eck!
It is unlikely that the Russians will use carrier pigeons, given that they've already claimed that Ukraine has weaponized pigeons and is going to deploy them as biowarfare agents in Russia. That is in line with their propaganda that they are "de-Nazifying" Ukraine, a country led by a Jewish president with an over-representation of Jews amongst both its oligarchs and its top political figures. Jewish Nazis. That's what Russia wants us to believe. Go figure.
No way can they be using pigeons. To train and understand these awesome birds, you have to understand them. They are not a part of this little putin. They don't speak Russian or Turkish or other languages. They are pigeons and they speak pigeon. Whenever you assholes decide to have a war,
The pigeons and the pigeon keepers are the first to go. They feel threatened by our pigeons because we don't believe in their lies. We respect pigeons. We build houses for them.
We eat them, and we take care of them. They are like family.
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