Marines Using Cheap Commercial Tech To Hide Command Posts In Plain Sight

Marines sent to Asia for recent exercises have learned to hide their command posts using local cellular networks and other commercial technologies, part of the military's growing effort to adapt to the modern battlefield.

Naval command posts whose control radio transmissions can reveal their location to the enemy can conduct most missions over "host nation" Wi-Fi, Col. Thomas Sieverts said during an information session on Friday.

Sieverts is in command of the Marine Rotational Force Southeast Asia, which was deployed for the second time from September to December and is training in the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The unit, modeled after other long-established Marine Corps rotational forces, focuses on security cooperation with U.S. allies and partners, but can also respond to regional crises.

The host nation's Wi-Fi is used to allow Marines to "blend into their environment," Sieverts said. Marines carry cell phones and connect to cellular networks using local SIM cards so their networks are not isolated. “We are untraceable,” he said.

Such communications require encryption and smaller communications, he added, referring to communications platforms that are physically much smaller than those they typically use.

Another tool in the Marine Corps' arsenal is commercial radar, which is no different from commercial fishing vessels, Sieverts said.

At the same time, the Marines must balance a command post that is invisible to enemy reconnaissance systems. .

"In order to meet the requirements, our [minimum] capacity is required," Sullivan said. "And to stay relevant over time, you also need to provide signature management."

The Marines' goal of making command posts more efficient comes as they and the military turn to counterterrorism and a modern battlefield where American adversaries are armed with precision-guided missiles and satellite signals.

One of the Army's primary goals is to improve the command post's ability to evade enemy fire. The aim is to make the command posts smaller and easier to move and to reduce their electromagnetic profiles.

"When we're dealing with massive battlefield operations centers that are difficult to set up and often supported by contractors, we're going to lose," Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, said at the annual meeting of the Association of USA. Army in October. the meeting

"Russians learn this lesson several times a day [in Ukraine]. And we will learn the hard way.

Ukrainian forces often target Russian command posts, logistics centers and troop staging areas with long-range missiles supplied by the United States.

Even headquarters far from the front lines, for example in occupied Crimea, are anything but safe. The Ukrainian military said Thursday it had struck a Russian command post in Sevastopol.