North Korean Jammer Forces Down U.S. Spy Plane

GoodShit

North Korea, East Asia’s most annoying Stalinist dictatorship, tends to get a little cranky when its neighbor to the South drills with the American military. Usually, that means Pyongyang using its GPS jammers to try and throw a wrench in the exercise. Now, South Korea’s military says the North’s electronic interference has done more than just bug folks trying to get satellite-guided directions to their favorite bibimbap spot. North Korea’s jamming pushed an American military aircraft out of the skies.

South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo reported Friday that North Korea’s GPS jamming forced an American spy plane to make an emergency landing during joint U.S.-South Korean exercise in March. The incident took place during the Key Resolve-Foal Eagle exercise, and was revealed by a South Korean Defense Ministry report.

“If the report is accurate, the [North Koreans] may have acquired a more powerful GPS jammer, capable of affecting navigation systems over a wider area, (potentially) impacting a host of activities, from intelligence collection to precision weapons applications,” one former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer notes.

READ MORE >