U.S. Spy Plane Impersonates Malaysian Aircraft, Apparently to Fool China

[Flyaway]

Considering who operates the Twitter account it’s fairly obviously a case of China going we are onto you. Just how dangerous an activity is this?

U.S. Spy Plane Impersonates Malaysian Aircraft, Apparently to Fool China

That's a risky move.

www.popularmechanics.com

 

[sferrin]

It was in international airspace.

 

[Flyaway]

It was in international airspace.

That answers that.

 

[Josh_TN]

I have to agree that isn't a great idea, since it sets a bad precedent. Though it is better than running completely dark like the Russians often do. If it was giving off legit position and velocity information, at least ATC can properly direct traffic. As far as I know this is a very unusual move for the USAF; I wonder what prompted it.

 

[Foo Fighter]

IMHO, anything you can do etc etc.

 

[riggerrob]

Does not surprise me.
Do you remember when communists shot down a civilian airliner - near Korea - because they suspected that it was a USAF spy plane?

 

[TomS]

It was in international airspace.

Yes, but it still likely violates some international agreements regarding air traffic control. And it creates a potential risk that some future real Malaysian airliner flying in or near Chinese airspace might be mistaken for a US reconnaissance aircraft, with unpredictable results. Thinking about KAL007, MH17, etc. Yes, clearly the PLAAF has a responsibility to positively ID any suspected intruder before taking dangerous measures, but why make it harder?

And it seems as though this spoofing is fairly easy to spot, as the Chinese have just shown. It doesn't even take a nation state to detect it. Today, private spotters are calling out other similar cases of ADS-B spoofing elsewhere as well.

 

[yasotay]

This is as old as false flagging ships, which has been happening since people decided to put identification means on their boats. But agree with TomS that this is likely not as effective as it was before the Information Age.

 

[TomcatViP]

The problem is ads-b presented as a substitute for civilian ATC. Not flying a sigint aircraft in international airspace... And being impaired by ninja moves from opponents airforce while refraining to take appropriate measures.
The message is clear, continue on this path and you'll have to ninja check every flying plane out there.

 

[fredymac]

I wonder if they think this is a cheap way of avoiding "unprofessional" intercepts. They got caught this time but how many other times did they get away with it. 55 miles away from the mainland and flying parallel to the coast so it isn't a question of flying a provocative flight profile.

 

[sferrin]

I wonder if they think this is a cheap way of avoiding "unprofessional" intercepts. They got caught this time but how many other times did they get away with it. 55 miles away from the mainland and flying parallel to the coast so it isn't a question of flying a provocative flight profile.

One other reason they might want to do it is the take might be better. China might not operate certain items if they know an RC-135 is waiting to listen.

 

[Flyaway]

I wonder if they think this is a cheap way of avoiding "unprofessional" intercepts. They got caught this time but how many other times did they get away with it. 55 miles away from the mainland and flying parallel to the coast so it isn't a question of flying a provocative flight profile.

One other reason they might want to do it is the take might be better. China might not operate certain items if they know an RC-135 is waiting to listen.

But it didn’t work this time & this tweet may be a declaration of intent to indicate in future they will detect such activities.

 

[sferrin]

I wonder if they think this is a cheap way of avoiding "unprofessional" intercepts. They got caught this time but how many other times did they get away with it. 55 miles away from the mainland and flying parallel to the coast so it isn't a question of flying a provocative flight profile.

One other reason they might want to do it is the take might be better. China might not operate certain items if they know an RC-135 is waiting to listen.

But it didn’t work this time & this tweet may be a declaration of intent to indicate in future they will detect such activities.

Doesn't mean it didn't work 400 times before.

 

[KwaZulu]

Here is an hilarious story of an RAF F4 intercepting and fooling a Soviet airliner that was also a spy [lane.

The unknown story of the RAF Phantom crew that intercepted a Soviet Il-62 Classic spy plane disguised as an Aeroflot airliner - The Aviation Geek Club

Share this article “Keeping the Phantom in that position for about six or seven minutes, my navigator and I grinned at the cameras, struck tops of our bone domes lingeringly and flamboyantly, offered thumbs up and gestures until, eventually, the Classic captain made a classic turn onto a...

theaviationgeekclub.com

 

[Archibald]

Here is an hilarious story of an RAF F4 intercepting and fooling a Soviet airliner that was also a spy [lane.

The unknown story of the RAF Phantom crew that intercepted a Soviet Il-62 Classic spy plane disguised as an Aeroflot airliner - The Aviation Geek Club

Share this article “Keeping the Phantom in that position for about six or seven minutes, my navigator and I grinned at the cameras, struck tops of our bone domes lingeringly and flamboyantly, offered thumbs up and gestures until, eventually, the Classic captain made a classic turn onto a...

theaviationgeekclub.com

That story gave me a good laugh. "How to ruin a spyplane job" ROTFL.

It is a shame the Phantom cockpit did not allowed the RAF pilots to show these cameras some part of the human anatomy... I wouldn't have hesitated for a second and properly MOONED them.

Or throw them the middle finger, copiously.

Or written some insults on a paper, things like "GO SCREW YOUR SOVIET MOTHER YOU SPY".

Or "WHY SPY CAMERAS ON AN AIRLINER, YOU BASTARD"

Or "I SWEAR LENIN AND STALIN WERE GAY LOVERS. AND BREZHNEV PREFERS SCREWING GOATS THAN HIS WIFE."

Imagine their faces at KGB or GRU when seeing the pictures... LMAO. ROTFL.

 

[Michel Van]

That Nothing Arichbald

Stunkwork painted on there roof Russian obscenity for Soviet Spy Sat
while Soviet OKB's painted on there roof english obscenity for NRO spay Sat...

on US spy plane copy international flights
why come flight KAL007 in Mind ?
For those who not know, in 1983 a Korean 747 got shot down by Soviets Mig, killing all on board.
as the Korean 747 deviated from course and driftet in Soviet Military Air Space
While a US spy plane operate in same area.