GPS in the new Shahab 3

[2RHPZ]

GPS in the new Shahab 3

GEOSTRATEGY-DIRECT INTELLIGENCE BRIEF
Iran missiles sharpen aim with U.S. technology
Chinese give 'ecstatic' Tehran GPS system it got during Clinton years
Posted: August 20, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern


© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps last week demonstrated the integration of a system that turns the Shihab-3 intermediate-range ballistic missile from a flying metal tube into a deadly weapon against Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United States, reports Geostrategy-Direct, the global intelligence news service.

The Shihab-3's problem has not been its range, but its accuracy. With a range of 1,400 kilometers, it can reach anywhere in Iraq, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

But the missile, based on the North Korean No Dong, was not accurate.

The Iranians appeared to have changed all that. Tehran has procured and integrated a Chinese missile navigation system into the Shihab-3 apparently based on the Global Positioning System, or GPS.

In one test, the Iranians skipped a generation in technology and posed a threat to U.S. interests throughout the Middle East.

As WorldNetDaily reported, in 1995, the Clinton administration approved the sale of GPS technology directly to a company owned by the Chinese Air Force.

"The Iranians wanted to overcome the lack of accuracy in their missiles so they didn't have to target cities," a U.S. intelligence source said.

"Although the Iranians talked tough, targeting cities posed a political problem for them. Now the Iranians can strike Israeli military and U.S. military targets in Iraq if Teheran's nuclear weapons program is struck. Naturally, the Iranians are ecstatic."

The Shihab-3 could incorporate a nuclear weapon and Teheran has been working hard to develop its first indigenous atomic bomb. Iran has been getting plenty of assistance from China, North Korea, Pakistan and Russia.

North Korea has been the greatest of help, and many in the U.S. intelligence community have concluded that Iran and North Korea have informally linked both their long-range missile as well as nuclear weapons programs.

The next step will probably be a launch of the new Shihab-3 missile. This could occur in a few weeks if the Iranian leadership feels it would help deter Israel and the United States.

[Michael RVR]

Take *that* infidels! :bash:

No seriously, i think it is actually not so much a bad thing, as long as they keep the thing purely for defensive purposes. I think. p-)

Course that said, you could just as easily 'turn-off' GPS in that part of the world if you detected a launch, so i'm not sure what good it does. :roll:

[S'13]

Even if the Iranians do succeed in their attempts to install GPS systems in the Shahab-3, it is well known that jamming GPS systems isn't a hard task, especially when we are talking about the U.S and Israel.

[2RHPZ]

Even if the Iranians do succeed in their attempts to install GPS systems in the Shahab-3, it is well known that jamming GPS systems isn't a hard task, especially when we are talking about the U.S and Israel.

Countering the GPS Jammer

http://www.sidratrade.net/ContentManager/images/dbImages/gps6.gif

Before the arrival of NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, for ages, one of the most difficult task for the army both attacking and defending, is navigating the terrain accurately. The question “where are we?” is usual in movement of troops and getting lost is an everyday occurrences. Map helps a lot if you know where exactly your position. While you can correlate your position with the physical features of the terrain with the ones on the map, there are instances where the terrain are featureless or constantly changing like on the desert. GPS is revolutionary because it can determine where you are accurately out to a few meters. The GPS program was initiated as project 621B in 1963 by Space Division of Aerospace Corp. If during medieval era, navigation was done by watching individual or a constellation of stars, with GPS system, the stars was replaced by a constellation of 24 NAVSTAR satellites and star light was replaced by all-weather radio waves, while relative time was measured from the arrival times of radio signals, rather than by using clocks. When NAVSTAR was in its planning stages, it was not designed to in a jamming environment. It was not even a top priority as GPS was designed to be used purely as a navigation aid, not as a vital component of smart weapon system although it was first fielded primarily for military use. Surprisingly, GPS is more popular with civilian and was used in a wide variety of navigation products while the military are quite reluctant or slow to adopt it. Perhaps the reason why is the sheer size and weight of the early GPS receiver design for military usage. The first single-channel, manpack receivers were awkward and heavy, tipping the scales at close to 20 lbs. But at the same time, markets for civilian lightweight GPS receiver and advancement in electronic has shrunk the size and weight of GPS receiver and can be bought cheaply. The First Gulf war saw a widespread use of civilian version of GPS receiver by many pilots and commanders who use it as a supplement to their navigation aids. In March 1993, Rockwell won a contract to deliver nearly 94,000 AN/PSN-11 Precision Lightweight GPS Receivers (PLGRs) to the US DOD. The PLGR is a five-channel, differential GPS receiver that weighs less than 3 lbs., has built-in or remote antenna capability and uses RS-232 and RS-422 data ports.

The GPS Jammer
But once the military adopts it, the applications of GPS have advanced far beyond the use of GPS to find positional information. The accurateness of GPS and the miniaturization of its receiver have made it an excellent addition to weapons to make them far more accurate and lessen the collateral damage. This ranged from cruise missiles to artillery shells. The incorporation of GPS and inertial-measurement units (IMUs) has even converted dumb iron bombs into smart bombs. Boeing for example, has also designed kits to make a Mk.82 2000lb dumb bomb into a smart weapon which includes a miniature GPS receiver. While the usage of GPS in weapon systems has not only make it far more accurate, it also intensifies the effort to counter its effectiveness, making the weapon which employs GPS guidance, useless. While the fear or the risks of GPS jamming is evident even in the early stage of the usage of GPS in weapons, this was largely ignored as there was no evidence that the risk or threat is real. That was until 1999 Paris Air Show when Aviaconversiya Ltd. Of Russia displayed a relatively small (120x190x70-mm) and lightweight (3.0kg) GPS jammer which provides 8W of jamming power in the two GPS bands and the two GLONASS bands. Using either the high-gain or omnidirectional antennas supplied with the jammer, the company claims effective jamming ranges of ‘several hundred kilometers,’ assuming a line-of-sight position to the victim’s navigational receivers. Aviaconversiya also highlighted various applications of the jammer, including using the omnidirectional antenna to prevent successful targeting of Tomahawk cruise missiles.

[Michael RVR]

I didnt think tomohawks used GPS , rather some kind of digital mapping type sensor.. for terminal guidance anyway.

What it may do for the missile is give it more accuracy - i'm sure it wouldn't be hard to integrate some kind of system where it uses GPS to get into the ballpark, say within a kilometer, then switches to Inertial guidance - after all, you dont need pinpoint accuracy with a nuke.

:|