The US Air Force has a new weapon called THOR that can take out swarms of drones

(video at link)

https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/21/18701267/us-air-force-thor-new-weapon-drone-swarms

In recent years, small drones have made their way onto battlefields where they’ve been used to surveil US forces or drop bombs on them, prompting the US military to develop new ways to take them down. This week, the US Air Force unveiled a new tool that can be stationed at bases around the world: a high-powered microwave system called Tactical High Power Microwave Operational Responder (THOR), which is designed to protect bases against swarms of drones.

The Air Force Research Laboratory at the Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, developed the system, which uses short bursts of high-powered microwaves to disable unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). According to local TV station KRQE, the system was developed quickly (18 months) for about $15 million. It runs off of a generator and is stored in a shipping container, meaning it can be transported almost anywhere and set up within a couple of hours.

The Air Force began testing THOR against short-range targets earlier this spring, while another system, the Counter-Electronic High-Power Microwave Extended-Range Air Base Air Defense (CHIMERA) is designed to hit things at medium to long ranges. That system is expected to be delivered sometime next year.

The military predicts that a major problem will be swarms of drones operating in concert when it wouldn’t matter if one or two are taken down. This system is effectively designed to take out a large number of drones all at once and has a further range than bullets or nets. THOR program manager Amber Anderson says that the system “operates like a flashlight,” and that anything caught in the beam “will be taken down … in the blink of an eye.”

NOTE: Fifth Domain is an interesting source for all things cyber-military.

One of the military’s top cyber groups [Cyber Command’s Cyber National Mission Force] will get a new leader

https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/cybercom/2019/06/19/one-of-the-militarys-top-cyber-groups-will-get-a-new-leader/

FTA (moar at link):

Brig. Gen. William Hartman is slated to lead U.S. Cyber Command’s Cyber National Mission Force, according to a June 19 personnel announcement from the Pentagon.

The Cyber National Mission Force plans and conducts cyber operations aimed at disrupting adversaries. The group works against specific nation-state threats and aims to engage those enemies as a means of preventing cyber intrusions. It is often described as having Cyber Command’s best operators.

Hartman is currently the deputy commander of Joint Force Headquarters-Cyber Army, which plans, directs and oversees cyber teams and operations in the Middle East, North America and Africa.

Hartman takes over for Maj. Gen. Timothy Haugh, who assumed command of the Cyber National Mission Force in June 2018.

It was not immediately clear where Haugh, whose second star was approved by the Senate April 29, is headed next.

Hartman’s new job carries prestige in the national security cyber community. Gen. Paul Nakasone, who is now the commander of Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency, and Vice Adm. Timothy White, who now leads 10th Fleet/Fleet Cyber Command, have held this position in the past.

The Cyber National Mission Force is considered one of the leading groups at Cyber Command in carrying out Nakasone’s philosophy of “persistent engagement.” This approach recognizes that cyber forces must be in constant contact in cyberspace with competitors day to day. A key pillar to that concept is what defense officials are calling “defending forward,” which involves operating outside U.S. networks to face threats as far away from the United States as possible.

The Conduct of Information Operations

https://fas.org/irp/doddir/army/atp3-13-1.pdf

The new way the Army will conduct information operations

11/19/2018

https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/2018/11/19/the-new-way-the-army-will-conduct-information-operations/

FTA [moar at link]

A new guide from the U.S. Army tells soldiers thinking about information warfare missions to consider a simple task: build a street map.

Such a map should include details about if a United Nations representative is nearby, whether a natural disaster took place and what kind of graffiti covers the walls. Layered with different attributes, events and details about communications, the map could provide a clear picture of which messages may work in specific locations.

That 118-page guide, named “The Conduct of Information Operations,” was released in October and is a fusion of cyber and information warfare that describes how the Army wants to conduct future missions.

“It provides Army leaders and [information operations] professionals with the essential information necessary to integrate IO effectively into their unit’s operation,” Lt. Col Joey Sullinger, a public affairs officer at the Army Combined Arms Center, whom Fifth Domain was referred to by other Army officials, in an email. “All members of the Army Profession ensure they conduct IO in accordance with the moral principles of the Army Ethic.”

The manual takes operators through a multi-stage process of information warfare. In each of the Army’s six battle phases ― which range from the initial “shape” stage to the final “enable civil authority” step ― the guide suggests a tactic for spreading information. Those steps may range from monitoring persons of interest, disrupting communications or cyberattacks.

The Army guide for information warfare comes as the service has focused on combining cyber and information operations with physical attacks. Part of the strategy was informed from when the Pentagon monitored how the Russian military was able to combine cyber, information and physical operations in the Ukraine starting in 2014, according to Pentagon officials.

The new manual also includes a focus on social media, which is described as “a dominant aspect of the information environment.” However, the Army cautions that outlets such as Twitter and Facebook can be used for more than spreading propaganda. Social media should be viewed as a form of intelligence gathering as well, the manual reads.

Pentagon secretly struck back against Iranian cyberspies targeting U.S. ships

6/21/2019

https://news.yahoo.com/pentagon-secretly-struck-back-against-iranian-cyber-spies-targeting-us-ships-234520824.html

On Thursday evening, U.S. Cyber Command launched a retaliatory digital strike against an Iranian spy group that supported last week’s limpet mine attacks on commercial ships, according to two former intelligence officials.

The group, which has ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, has over the past several years digitally tracked and targeted military and civilian ships passing through the economically important Strait of Hormuz, through which pass 17.4 million barrels of oil per day. Those capabilities, which have advanced over time, enabled attacks on vessels in the region for several years.

Though sources declined to provide any further details of the retaliatory cyber operation, the response highlights how the Persian Gulf has become a staging ground for escalating digital — as well as conventional — conflict, with both the United States and Iran trying to get the upper hand with cyber capabilities.

The retaliatory cyber response follows several weeks of mounting tension in the region, which appeared set to boil over after last week’s attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf. U.S. officials blamed Iran for the attacks and threatened to strike back if U.S. interests in the region were harmed. Then, on Thursday, Iranians shot down a $240 million U.S. military drone.

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The National Security Council declined to comment on the Iranian cyber group or the U.S. Cyber Command response. The National Security Agency, U.S. Central Command and the Navy all directed Yahoo News to U.S. Cyber Command for comment. Cyber Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Heather Babb, a Pentagon spokeswoman, told Yahoo News that “as a matter of policy and for operational security, we do not discuss cyberspace operations, intelligence or planning.”

Iran’s cyber capabilities are not the most sophisticated, at least compared to the United States’, but they are getting better. Tehran’s ability to gather information and unleash offensive operations has developed significantly in the last decade or so, particularly after Iranian centrifuges at the Natanz uranium enrichment plant were struck by a malicious computer worm created by U.S. and Israeli intelligence and first revealed in 2010.