China's stealth jet -J-20

On 11/01/2011 18:53, Dan wrote:
{snip}


Let them steal a chip design with a built in flaw such that it can be
remotely commanded to cause major system failure. Essentially one could
get the Red Chinese to construct an airplane with a built in bomb.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

The danger with that one is that our own aeroplanes have the save flaw.

Andrew Swallow

On 1/11/2011 4:42 PM, Andrew Swallow wrote:
On 11/01/2011 18:53, Dan wrote:
{snip}


Let them steal a chip design with a built in flaw such that it can be
remotely commanded to cause major system failure. Essentially one could
get the Red Chinese to construct an airplane with a built in bomb.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

The danger with that one is that our own aeroplanes have the save flaw.

Andrew Swallow

Not if done right. Letting the bad guys assume you use it doesn't
mean you have to actually do so. Think of the phantom army Patton ran
prior to Overlord. The Nazis assumed it existed.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

On Jan 11, 5:42*pm, Andrew Swallow wrote:
On 11/01/2011 18:53, Dan wrote:
{snip}
Let them steal a chip design with a built in flaw such that it can be
remotely commanded to cause major system failure. Essentially one could
get the Red Chinese to construct an airplane with a built in bomb.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

The danger with that one is that our own aeroplanes have the save flaw.

Andrew Swallow

This is a good example of modern tech:
http://www.xilinx.com/products/virtex6q/index.htm
You draw a schematic or specification, simulate it, then compile it
into a configuration file that (you hope) turns the generic Xilinx
chip into a circuit that implements your design. It's like a computer
program done in hardware. The configuration file is -seriously-
encrypted and loads at power-up, and is lost when the power shuts
off.

The individual elements of the ones I used were composed of 5-input
gates that could duplicate any logic function or Karnaugh map (they
actually used look-up tables) followed by master-slave D-type flip-
flops. If you know how to design computer logic that's all you need to
do anything.

When the first try didn't work because the Air Force radio it
controlled didn't meet its own specs, I needed only 10 minutes to fix
it.

Seriously, if you have the program manager's confidence that's how
fast and easy it can be to fix problems. Had it been deployed I could
have E-mailed the files out, like a Windows Update or BIOS upgrade to
a computer.
..

In article , Andrew Swallow
writes
On 11/01/2011 18:53, Dan wrote:
{snip}


Let them steal a chip design with a built in flaw such that it can be
remotely commanded to cause major system failure. Essentially one could
get the Red Chinese to construct an airplane with a built in bomb.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

The danger with that one is that our own aeroplanes have the save flaw.

Andrew Swallow

Not necessarily. Remember Concorde and Concordski? There were strong
rumours that the Russians had agents who acquired plans/details for
Concorde. The two aircraft were certainly fairly similar. The UK
and/or French got wind of it and fed in some duff data. Hence the crash
and demise of Concordski.

Not sure how true it is BUT I live about a mile from Filton and in an
area where there were a lot of people who worked on the project. When
new neighbours moved in next door about ten years ago they started
stripping wallpaper and found a thin wire similar to a radio aerial
running round the picture rail of a back bedroom........... One of the
previous owners was an aircraft engineer.
--
Malcolm

On Jan 12, 8:31*am, Malcolm wrote:
...
Not sure how true it is BUT I live about a mile from Filton and in an
area where there were a lot of people who worked on the project. *When
new neighbours moved in next door about ten years ago they started
stripping wallpaper and found a thin wire similar to a radio aerial
running round the picture rail of a back bedroom........... One of the
previous owners was an aircraft engineer.
--
Malcolm

That sounds like an old shortwave antenna, not one for VHF or UHF
aircraft or military bands.
http://www.hamuniverse.com/shortwaveantenna.html

jsw

In article
s.com, Jim Wilkins writes
On Jan 12, 8:31*am, Malcolm wrote:
...
Not sure how true it is BUT I live about a mile from Filton and in an
area where there were a lot of people who worked on the project. *When
new neighbours moved in next door about ten years ago they started
stripping wallpaper and found a thin wire similar to a radio aerial
running round the picture rail of a back bedroom........... One of the
previous owners was an aircraft engineer.
--
Malcolm

That sounds like an old shortwave antenna, not one for VHF or UHF
aircraft or military bands.
http://www.hamuniverse.com/shortwaveantenna.html

jsw

You are probably right.

I have an update anyway - spoke to my neighbour about an hour ago and
mentioned this thread. He told me that after a visit from some security
people they said they thought likely that it dated from WWII. The BAC
works at Filton were of course involved in producing the Bristol
Blenheim and Bristol Beaufighters as well as repairing damaged aircraft
so it is quite possible that the aerial was something to do with
espionage then. Who knows.
--
Malcolm

On 1/12/2011 12:24 PM, Malcolm wrote:
In
s.com, Jim writes
On Jan 12, 8:31 am, wrote:
...
Not sure how true it is BUT I live about a mile from Filton and in an
area where there were a lot of people who worked on the project. When
new neighbours moved in next door about ten years ago they started
stripping wallpaper and found a thin wire similar to a radio aerial
running round the picture rail of a back bedroom........... One of the
previous owners was an aircraft engineer.
--
Malcolm

That sounds like an old shortwave antenna, not one for VHF or UHF
aircraft or military bands.
http://www.hamuniverse.com/shortwaveantenna.html

jsw

You are probably right.

I have an update anyway - spoke to my neighbour about an hour ago and
mentioned this thread. He told me that after a visit from some security
people they said they thought likely that it dated from WWII. The BAC
works at Filton were of course involved in producing the Bristol
Blenheim and Bristol Beaufighters as well as repairing damaged aircraft
so it is quite possible that the aerial was something to do with
espionage then. Who knows.

The germans got ours before and during the war and we got thiers
after the war. Evens out.

Il 12/01/2011 20:24, Malcolm ha scritto:

I have an update anyway - spoke to my neighbour about an hour ago and
mentioned this thread. He told me that after a visit from some security
people they said they thought likely that it dated from WWII. The BAC
works at Filton were of course involved in producing the Bristol
Blenheim and Bristol Beaufighters as well as repairing damaged aircraft
so it is quite possible that the aerial was something to do with
espionage then. Who knows.

*Really* who knows... AFAIK, WWII brit radio counterintelligence was on
par with WWII radio intelligence, implying that if was actually a german
clandestine radio, surely ended rather short-lived, and not discovered
50 or so years later; I also strongly suspect that this "is a WWII
thing" official interpretation is much more of a CYA than a cover-up....

Best regards from Italy,
dott. Piergiorgio.

I have an update anyway - spoke to my neighbour about an hour ago and
mentioned this thread. He told me that after a visit from some security
people they said they thought likely that it dated from WWII. The BAC
works at Filton were of course involved in producing the Bristol
Blenheim and Bristol Beaufighters as well as repairing damaged aircraft
so it is quite possible that the aerial was something to do with
espionage then. Who knows.

What makes you think it was a transmitting aerial??
It was very common in the early days of radio to have external aerials
for receivers, quite often down the garden, but also around a room,
often on the picture rail. It just sounds like a 'neat' installation
that was discovered.

Jeff

On 12/01/2011 18:11, Jim Wilkins wrote:
On Jan 12, 8:31 am, wrote:
...
Not sure how true it is BUT I live about a mile from Filton and in an
area where there were a lot of people who worked on the project. When
new neighbours moved in next door about ten years ago they started
stripping wallpaper and found a thin wire similar to a radio aerial
running round the picture rail of a back bedroom........... One of the
previous owners was an aircraft engineer.
--
Malcolm

That sounds like an old shortwave antenna, not one for VHF or UHF
aircraft or military bands.
http://www.hamuniverse.com/shortwaveantenna.html

jsw

Shortwave can reach spy central near Moscow.

Andrew Swallow