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US Military aircraft tracking
Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2023 2:52 pm
by plmc135
Following on from the announcement about removing ID's from AMC aircraft, a new article on Scramble details the next steps that are being proposed to introduce.
https://www.scramble.nl/military-news/n ... c-measures
This will please plenty of FC'ers

Re: OPSEC Stage 2
Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2023 3:37 pm
by Malcolm
They really don't understand, do they.
If you fly everywhere with Mode S and/or ADSB on then there is no incentive for interested parties (i.e. us!) to develop other modes of tracking (Modea 1/2/A/C/3). Sure turn it off for 'real' ops, but in those cases chances are they'll be using Mode 4/5 anyway. Turning it off for VIP flights - nope.
If you start routinely flying with Mode S turned off, then there
IS an incentive to develop other tracking techniques. The Mode S genie is already out of it's bottle - 'encouraging' advancements in other modes is asking for trouble and does pose a threat to real ops IMHO.
Re: OPSEC Stage 2
Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2023 4:31 pm
by Skywatcher
How I see all this is ….if you think it should not be posted then don’t post ,simples

People really like to over complicate everything these days and there is no reason to …
Aircrew and operational safety as always is of upmost importance,so if we think it’s something sensitive (which other than a very few scenarios is most unlikely to effect most spotters ) just be sensible people…
I do agree with Malcolm on the online tracking increase,how far do we need to take it ,for me tracking a F-15E on a training flight out of Lakenheath is fine for me but then when it comes down to the details of codes however is another issue
And as always if they need to they will just not show in any form of tracking
US Military aircraft tracking
Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2023 6:13 am
by dennis273
Came across this and thought others might be interested. Hopefully there isn't already a thread on this - I didn't spot one.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/t ... uch-harder
A logical progression from removing tail numbers?
Dennis
Re: US Military aircraft tracking
Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2023 8:57 am
by Johno
Sorry but I thought the whole point of ADS-B and Mode-S was to be visible to everyone to make the skies safer. I am a novice when it comes to other modes so sorry if this is a silly question, but can someone tootling around in a Cessna be alerted to a front liner coming his way without mode-s in uncontrolled airspace ? A number of years ago I remember seeing a Robinson R22 flying over the loop around 1500ft as two F15s were coming through.
I have noticed the F15s are using Mode-S again more frequently.
Re: US Military aircraft tracking
Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2023 11:03 am
by roger4
To have situational awareness of the sort you describe, aircraft need to have systems to both send out, and to receive in, the ADSB/Mode-S signals. Most light aircraft only have ADSB-out systems. So in general, no, your Cessna or R22 will not know of the presence of the airliner or F-15s. But then, that's what Mark 1 eyeballs are for!
The imperitive to hide US Mil aircraft is coming from US Politicians, who like their brethren around the world, don't make much sense or logic to rest of us! And whatever tools we enthusists have, or might develop, for monitoring US Mil movements, you can bet that the US's adversaries already have much better tools.
Re: US Military aircraft tracking
Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2023 11:30 am
by SkyMan
Why are they only getting twitchy about this now?
Re: US Military aircraft tracking
Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2023 11:52 am
by POL
SkyMan wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 11:30 am
Why are they only getting twitchy about this now?
Because the Musk tracking "problem" got worldwide news coverage and US politicians are worried their movements can be tracked. There's nothing more to it.