OSINTtechnicalJul 2, 2023
IR drone view of a nighttime Ukranian HIMARS strike on a Russian position outside of Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast.
Show threadDreaming of dad jazz.Jul 2, 2023
@osinttechnical Jesus.
Show threadGraydonJul 2, 2023

@michaelcoyote @osinttechnical GPS was built for ICBM navigation; one of the great Cold War unintentional innovations.

Thirty years after initial full operational capability, the intended-to-be-enabled smite button has been downscaled and widely deployed.

Show thread0x
@graydon @michaelcoyote @osinttechnical GPS wasn't built for ICBM navigation, they've used inertial since day one. Modern missiles can supposedly take GPS into account, but it's easy enough to jam that they still have full inertial navigation onboard.
Jul 2, 2023 at 5:42amWeb
Show threadGraydonJul 2, 2023

@necedema @michaelcoyote @osinttechnical SLBM and (at the time, planned) mobile ICBM launchers benefit greatly from knowing just where they are on launch, and that was the original justification for the stonking price tag of the GPS constellation.

Then it became the world's clock and a US national technical asset, but in the beginning, it was so the missiles would know where they were on launch.

(Also, jamming GPS at the peak of a strategic ballistic missile's trajectory is non-trivial.)