Agreed! Hence my "Contras" comment! I guess the topic for the discussion would be how "mainstream" such links by Governments to such organisations are? How much do such links form part of "official daily State administration" and who it's supposed to help? I suspect even the assembled wisdom of the all PPRuNers, if harnessed as one, could not answer that. So much is hidden - on both sides. And the motives so nebulous!

And, re the Thread Topic, as you suggest, the Russians are probably giving the systems a far better workout than any Tempest Test van ever did! It was always an easy (for that, read "slow") day when the van appeared and I was told to help out. Fine if it was sunny and one could take it easy on the grass while the Team did their stuff ........ Happy daze! :ok:

Bearing in mind us civvies have been operating in the Eastern Med through such jamming over the last few years, I had assumed that the UK military had better kit and SoP’s to operate in such an environment?

Where in the article does it say that the jamming had any impact on operations? :confused::hmm: Of course someone will say it 'could' cause an accident, either the MOD trying to make the beastly Russians look reckless or the journalist trying to sensationalise the story.

So Russians facilitate a proper field testing of the NATO equipment, SOPs and pilot skills? Free-of-charge? Somehow if that was really the case I sure think that while making a big stink out of it publicly NATO hopes that they do carry on as ultimately such conditions only will improve their systems in the long run. Non-story.

This is hardly news as there has been a Permanent NOTAM advising of GPS signal interruptions in Nicosia FIR for a while now and pilots should be expecting it and have alternate means of navigation available.

Latest NOTAM below:

A0211/20 - GPS SIGNAL INTERRUPTIONS HAVE BEEN REPORTED WITHIN NICOSIA FIR.
PILOTS ARE REQUESTED TO PROMPTLY REPORT TO ATC ANY GPS SIGNAL
INTERRUPTION EXPERIENCED. 11 FEB 12:30 2020 UNTIL PERM. CREATED: 11 FEB 12:34
2020

Quoting Bellendcat is akin to quoting wikipedia, ever Foreign Office has highlighted the willingess they have to write the story to suit who is writing the cheque.

Right.

At the same time we should believe the US claim, Russian media spending <$100k on Twitter somehow influenced US elections in 2016 where as US policing and intelligence agencies spending $1 billion and having the best software in the world couldn't prevent this. HRC backers who spent $100M used the wrong people.

Just like the claimed poisoning on useful idiot Navalny, Russia, just like western countrys is more than capable of ensuring someone dies. Dr David Kelly seems strangely forgotten on the 18th Anniversary of the Iraq invasion.

Entirely.
My point is that the Russian record is unequivocal, when they want someone killed, they kill them, irrespective of the collateral damage.
This was not a Russian operation.

My intelligence sources indicate that in addition to the missile strikes against the extensive US/Turkish/Israeli oil theft operations in Northern Syria, a war is starting to flare up in Eastern Ukraine/Donbass region. At the same time, there are heavy NATO exercises starting up in the Black Sea region.
The Russians might understandably be be a bit concerned about the increasing buildup of military forces in their vicinity and might act to harass military movements.
Of particular concern to me is that these activities have received minimal to no publicity here in the U.S.
I suggest that those operating in the Eastern Med and Black Sea region be prepared for the unexpected.

Etudiant
 

I neither know nor really care who attempted to kill the Skripals. I have not read too much about it other than the reports in the news. I had certainly not heard of the bellingcat report.

I find your viewpoint, and others like it, fascinating though.

Assuming you only have access to information freely available on the internet (if you are a government agent with Top Secret clearance this is a strange conduit for your intelligence updates) you seem very adamant that you know better than everyone else.

You may well be correct and I will admit that anything involving the Russian government (and indeed any government) should be viewed with skepticism. However, making definitive statements when you are not in possession of all the facts can appear a little arrogant to say the least.

There is nothing to stop you stating your beliefs but the way you present them can reflect upon the way people view you.

BV

BV - That applies to everybody here. Anybody taking a viewpoint that is not on message, i.e. questioning anything that western media are pushing as a narrative, is automatically targeted as being in pay of X Govt and a pseudo enemy. The fact that many people are questioning because they have experience of the long history of Govt lying.

I expect the same would have been on here in 2003 during the Iraq invasion. People happily jump on bandwagon now and saying it was wronga and if only we had known. Fact is people did and still went along with the narrative.

In 2016 Kiev supported HRC, they expected a build up of forces in Ukraine and a war. Biden had removed the questioning of corruption but Trump got impeached because he questioned it. Given Hunter's rewards then not surprising a war is being pushed but the Ukrainians are not playing ball as much as the US want. Kiev's ban on young men crossing the border to avoid conscription tells its own story.

Ukraine has not had a census in almost 20 years, the numbers would be scary because the claimed 41.5 million people are minimum 8 million less, Poland has 3-4 million, Germany 500k plus, Russia 1 million all since 2014. How do you fight a war when your own people leave rather than stay and fight to support more corruption and neo nazis.

I fully expect a replay of 2014 in Ukraine, Kiev will lose more territory and Russia will get sanctioned again.

Full disclosure, I have zero secret information, but thankfully the internet allows one to read dissident opinions from outside the Reuters bubble.
There is enough doubt raised imho by the reporting of John Helmer ( Dances With Bears ) to suspect that the UK secret services have been 'economical with the truth' in this matter.
I admit that I do not believe that recognizing the monomaniacal focus the Russians appear to have on primary mission success is irrelevant to this discussion.
We had two alleged Russian murder attempts, on Skripal and on Navaly, yet both were botched by all evidence, whereas Litvinenko was murdered with no possibility of healing, but a trace back to Russia a mile wide...
To me, this smells.

So have they taken over from the Limassol taxis who used to 'comms jam' the Troodos TADs in the 80s and 90s?

When you start thinking your delusions are facts, that when the guys with the straight jacket start appearing.

Somebody still died as a result.

GPS is nowhere near as reliable as was hoped. Jamming and spoofing are fairly common and there last but one issue of the IEEE Spectrum magazine ahd an article on how US government jamming and spoofing exercises has nearly caused accidents.

They can jam E2Bs now?

Sadly true, but not anyone of even remote interest to Russia.
To me, that suggests some spy community cock up, rather than a Russian assassination attempt, which I would have expected to be more direct.
Skripal had been under the wing of the British spy community for quite a while, so he had zero intelligence value, plus he was quiet, so no publicity benefit.
To claim the Russians would mount a murder campaign against him and then screw it up seems a stretch, given their track record elsewhere.

Etudiant,

I'll bite - why the reference to Russia regarding the death, seems counter-productive to your argument that Russia wasn't involved?

Also, if Skripal was of zero value and not 'broadcasting' what was the point? Hypothetically, let's extrapolate your viewpoint that UK security services were being economical with the truth, to what end?

I also have zero additional information, unless further information surfaces, Occams razor principle appears sound to me