USAF Begins Massive GPS Blackouts In The Western US During Largest Ever Air War Drill

The United States Air Force is launching its largest-ever three-week premier set of air war drills, called Red Flag 18-1, starting on Friday and will conclude February 16, said the 99th Air Base Wing Public Affairs.

On January 26, the air war drill, known as Red Flag, officially kicked off at Nellis Air Force Base, 20-miles outside of Las Vegas. Base officials have warned residents of increased military aircraft activity due to aircraft departing from Nellis Air Force Base twice-a-day to conduct war drills on the Nevada Test and Training Range.

“We’re trying a few new and different things with Red Flag 18-1,” said Col Michael Mathes, 414th Combat Training Squadron commander. “It’s the largest Red Flag ever with the largest number of participants, highlighting the balance of training efficiency with mission effectiveness.”

The drill involves a variety of attack, fighter and bomber aircraft as well as participants from the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, and Marine Corps. Foreign participants include Royal Australian Air Force and the Royal Air Force.

A video from the 2015 Red Flag drill is shown below.

“Red Flag 18-1 primarily is a strike package focused training venue that we integrate at a command and control level in support of joint task force operations,” said Mathes. “It’s a lot of words to say that we integrate every capability we can into strike operations that are flown out of Nellis Air Force Base.”

According to The Drive, the air war drill is the largest of its kind in the 42-year history, as the United States prepares for a possible conflict on the Korean Penisula.

Further, the USAF is going to “blackout GPS over the sprawling Nevada Test and Training Range,” said the Drive, which will provide realistic war-like conditions to challenge aircrews.

Flying.com reports the drills at the Nevada Test and Training Range will cause rolling GPS blackouts for the vast portions of the Western United States from January 26 through February 18. All GPS-equipped aircraft operating in the Western United States should be prepared for possible navigation failure in the region.

The NBAA Command Center reports the U.S. military will begin training exercises on the Nevada Test and Training Range between 0400Z until 0700Z daily. Training maneuvers will impact vast portions of the Western U.S. including California, Nevada, Oregon, Wyoming, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Montana and New Mexico. FAA enroute ATC centers affected include Albuquerque (ZAB), Denver (ZDV), Los Angeles (ZLA), Salt Lake (ZLC), Oakland (ZOA) and Seattle (ZSE). Operations in R-2508 and R-2501 may also be impacted.  

"Arrivals and departures from airports within the Las Vegas area may be issued non-Rnav re-routes with the possibility of increased traffic disruption near LAS requiring airborne re-routes to the south and east of the affected area. Aircraft operating in Los Angeles (ZLA) center airspace may experience navigational disruption, including suspension of Descend-via and Climb-via procedures. Non-Rnav SIDs and STARs may be issued within ZLA airspace in the event of increased navigational disruption. Crews should expect the possibility of airborne mile-in-trail and departure mile-in-trail traffic management initiatives.”

The Drive explains why the USAF is determined to use GPS spoofing and jamming technology but offers no insight into what a GPS blackout might mean for the millions of civilians who live in the Western region of the US.

GPS denial is a becoming a huge issue for American military planners. Peer states, especially Russia, are already putting GPS spoofing and jamming tactics to work during various training events near their own borders. We have discussed this situation in great depth before, and I would suggest you read this article to understand just how deeply the loss of reliable global positioning system data can mean for the U.S. and its allies during a time of war, as well as what is being done to overcome such a monumental hurdle.

The Pentagon has mysteriously tested technology that can jam GPS over a wide area before, and it is likely that this same capability will be put to use in the Nellis Test and Training Range for this Red Flag 18-1. Line-of-sight and distance impact the way in which GPS users, especially other airplanes, operating far outside the training area will be affected. Here is an article on those tests, which emanated from Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, which is located on the western edge of the Mojave Desert in California, in June of 2016.

Below is a released image showing the impact of a GPS jammer unleashed on the Western United States in a June 2016 test:

If there is a concrete reason why the Department of Defense is quietly preparing a massive air war drill in Nevada now, while simultaneously forcing a gigantic GPS blackout for the Western part of the United States, it has not been disclosed aside from the obvious, of course.

We know one thing: this exercise will last a lengthy three weeks and could pose significant risks and threats to devices that rely on GPS signals, which according to the DHS chart below, is pretty much anything with electronics in it these days.

 

Let’s hope that nothing goes wrong in the Western part of the United States if so, we will know whom to blame…

Comments

shitshitshit Sir Edge Jan 26, 2018 7:55 PM Permalink

USAF is training itself and its LGBT peeple to lose a war knowing that they will not have any GPS signal or radio uplink if they dare trying to fuck up with reunited Korea. 

They want to know what a good spanking feels like because they hope defeat will be less harsh. Somehow this gives me the feeling they copied the French military tradition of surrendering and sinking their battleships before the fight actually begins. 

Maybe is it the result of too much diversity? 

 

 

In reply to by Sir Edge

ufos8mycow wally_12 Jan 26, 2018 9:41 PM Permalink

Don't tell anyone but this is really an operation called FAZE 1. They are targeting the snowflake's and illegal immigrant's phones.

Before they know what's happening they'll be driving along some shitty road in Mexico and wondering why their phones are telling them they are in a Home Depot or Chipotle parking lot.

In reply to by wally_12

bluez IH8OBAMA Jan 27, 2018 8:52 AM Permalink

What they actually do is precisely "offset" the GPS guidance signals in a "random" pattern "only they" know about and can compensate for. So the "enemy" which has its whole own system anyway cannot use it.

This is of course so they can "win" WWIII. Of course with nuclear winter and no crops growing for ten years+ only the taxpayer funded Deep Underground Military Base (DUMB) dwellers will "survive". (They just cut medicaid and pain medicine for Americans with cancer.)

The Russians, meanwhile, have underground shelters for their own common people. I hope those Russians come over here and drill down to our elite underground bases and inject chlorine gas, slowly. I really do.

In reply to by IH8OBAMA

UmbilicalMosqu… bluez Jan 27, 2018 12:31 PM Permalink

Physical, electronic, gravitational, nuclear particle, and micro-sensor (accelerometers) guidance systems (single-input rate gyroscopes, dual-input axis micro-machined rate gyros, and MEMS/CMOS technology navigational systems). LORAN, TACAN, Doppler radar, and some laser colors and frequencies used in conjunction with satellite feedback, as well as star location (sextants), and magnetic compasses and maps are among the alternate technologies to GPS for navigation purposes.  There are also highly classified systems that the public has no knowledge of.

In reply to by bluez

SoDamnMad Eyes Opened Jan 27, 2018 5:11 AM Permalink

It's no secret the Russians didn't want to rely on an American system for navigation in times of war hence they have launched satellite after satellite to improve this Glonass system.

Many people feel the Seal team captured in Iranian waters in the 2 boats were the result of the GPS system being compromised with systems available in Russia. The was a story circulating that a couple Black Sea cargo ships reported their GPS was compromised and their readouts said they were 20 miles inland. If something happens with war in Europe you can best assume GPS won't work.

In reply to by Eyes Opened

DEMIZEN wally_12 Jan 26, 2018 10:54 PM Permalink

the beauty of vector maps and apis is the panoramic views of the contour. you can always get a visually match of your position leaving you with zero doubt of your position.  soon all you'll have to do is take a 360 panoramic shot around you and let the vector map make a match.

.mil probably uses mobile units with lidars to fingerprint their position without gps and beams the position to subunits over the omni tower. gps is totally yesterday.

In reply to by wally_12

LightBeamCowboy wally_12 Jan 27, 2018 9:44 AM Permalink

Whizz-bang electronics are fine, but fragile. In 1973 our LORAN was down, our SRN-9 satellite was down, and we needed to get an aircraft carrier from SF to Pearl to Philippines on schedule. So we did it with an old brass sextant and a chronometer, with a precise landfall. It can be done. Keeping a full library of paper maps for your area of operations is still important.

In reply to by wally_12