abhik wrote:Ravi Karumanchiri wrote:...So, let's say, for the sake of argument, that the US has a satellite in orbit, and it 'pings' a very low-power, encrypted signal downward... and a US-made piece of kit receives the signal... it could conceivably respond in a directional fashion, directly to the satellite in orbit, without drawing any power from on-board systems.
..
A bug so advanced would put the Americans in a fix, is its technology more advanced than the aircraft that it is supposed to bug? What if it falls in the wrong hands or somebody reverse engineers it?
From what I understand, the Khan's teens were designed in the 1970s. By comparison, the first fractal antennas were conceived and designed only in 1995. Also, RFIDs have only matured within the last ten years.
So therefore; YES,
these technologies are newer than the A/C the Americans have entered into the MMRCA contest. Admittedly, it is hard to call 'fractal antennae' and 'RFID tags' "more advanced", since that would be like comparing apples and oranges. But, these technologies did not exist when the F-16 and F-18 were first designed.
As for these technologies falling into the wrong hands, or being subjected to reverse engineering; the threat is from these devices being secretly integrated into equipment one has purchased from someone else; which means that as long as the Americans buy American warplanes, they don't have to worry about this danger.
The danger I was pointing out, concerns Indians buying American warplanes. I was simply trying to counter GeorgeWelch's contention that a "bugged" warplane would be easy to detect. In fact, with these technologies, it would be very, very hard for the IAF to detect and identify an American "bug" embedded into an American warplane (if it is built on fractal antennae and RFID technology; where the form factor is
extremely thin, even
transparent, and the power source is the inbound 'ping' signal itself, rather than anything we might imagine being hard-wired into the aircraft).
Again, for the record: I am not saying this is definitely part of the American's bids -- only that it is technologically possible, despite what GeorgeWelch would have you believe.
CONFIDENTIAL TO GeorgeWelch: I will admit that there is a trust deficit among many Indians concerning the intentions of Americans, if you will admit that this
mistrust is a two-way street, and Americans are also mistrustful of Indian's intentions.
In this context, the American mistrust of India is a
motive, the technology I've described is the
means, and if the MMRCA winner is a teen, this will also provide the
opportunity.
Motive + Means + Opportunity = Bugged teens in the IAF + Operational Risk + Strategic Constraint for India
IMO, this is yet another reason to buy either Rafale or Mig-35 (I like the Mig-35 in particular, for its thrust-vectoring engines).