"pervect" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 03:22:52 +0000, ess (phil
hunt) wrote:

What would be sensible strategies/weapons for a middle-ranking
country to employ if it thought it is likely to be involved in a war
against the USA or other Western countries, say in the next 10
years?

I think one strategy would be to use large numbers of low cost
cruise missiles (LCCM). The elements of a cruise missile are all
very simple, mature technology, except for the guidance system.
Modern computers are small and cheap, so guidance systems can be
made cheaply.

How are you getting your position information?

The cheap solution is to use GPS. But IIRC the US has complete
control over the GPS satellite system. So if you are at war with the
US, you can't count on your GPS working right.

I don't know the details of the system (one reason I'm free to post) -
but the absolute best case I can see is for you to force the US to
basically shut off the GPS system everywhere. Depending on your
weapons range, you may be able to force GPS nullification only in a
limited area (the US can probably scramble the timing when the
satellites are over the area threatened by your weapons, while leaving
the timing intact when the satellites are over "safe" areas.

That is a decent description of the selective availability (SA) function of
GPS. SA renders the average (non-US military) receiver incapable of
determining a precise fix, and you need precision for the kind of weapons
the poster was postulating. SA was shut down a couple of years back so that
civil users (i.e., surveyors, commercial aircraft, etc.) could take
advantage of its precision (prior to that occuring surveyors had to use what
is known as "differential GPS", a more time consuming method of achieving a
precise location), but according to the official USG website on the subject
it can be reinstituted over a particular region at will.


Denying the US use of GPS would have a negative impact on US military
capability, but it would not eliminate it.

Actually, I don't think SA adversely affects US military systems.

Brooks


From a terrorist POV - naw, it's pretty obvious, but I'll defer
comment, no sense in making life easy for them.