By Clay Dillow Posted 05.29.2012 at 2:14 pm 15 Comments

That's No Rock Lockheed Martin via Danger Room

During the Cold War, both sides liberally used the “bug”--the remote listening device--to surreptitiously get wind of what the other side was up to by listening in on a room, a building, or, in the case of East Berlin, an entire city. But in America’s cooling war in Afghanistan, U.S. forces may undertake what could be the biggest bugging operation of all time, planting sensors all over the entire country that could feed the U.S. military intelligence from inside that country for the next two decades. It’s the rough equivalent of bugging an entire country.

The palm-sized devices at the U.S. military’s disposal aren’t listening devices per se, but they would detect anyone moving nearby and report the movement back to an intelligence outpost, letting special operators know when a remote mountain pass or a known smuggling trail is being utilized. Some of the sensors could be buried, others disguised as rocks or other geological artifacts. The point is, they would be littered all across Afghanistan’s landscape, a lingering legacy of a decade-long conflict that would last 20 years more.

Related Articles

Army's Most High-Tech Infantry Unit Set to Touch Down in Afghanistan
Marines in Afghanistan Find That Solar Panels Save Soldiers' Lives
U.S. Army Plans to Send Giant Spy Blimp to Afghanistan

Tags

Technology, Clay Dillow, afghanistan, lockheed martin, military, NATO, unattended ground sensors
These kinds of unattended ground sensors (UGSs) have been used before, notably in Vietnam. But these new sensors--some of which are being developed and tested by a Lockheed Martin--consume a fraction of the power and their batteries are solar-rechargeable, allowing them to operate for up to two decades if Lockheed’s estimates are correct. Other companies are in on UGS game as well, and interest has been spiking in both military circles and elsewhere.

The sensors would be fitted with audio, seismic, or even phased-array radar instruments that could blanket the Afghan countryside in a mesh network of surveillance tech. When a sensor is triggered, these devices would beam the location of the suspect activity to surveillance airships above, spurring them to put more sophisticated electronic eyes on the area.

UGSs like these are already used around bases in Afghanistan and elsewhere, including along the U.S. Mexico border. But the scope of the possible bugging of Afghanistan is truly massive--a testament to what can happen as technologies become ubiquitous and the cost per unit declines. The Lockheed sensor could cost as little as $1,000 per unit, a small price to pay for 20 years of uninterrupted intel, especially for a DoD that always seems to have money to burn. Much more on this over at Danger Room.

[Danger Room]

15 Comments

Link to this comment
Vapur9
05/29/12 at 3:55 pm

Are we still at war? With whom?

GET OFF MY LAWN!!1

By the way, 1k buxx for that? Pssht; BAI! Someone is getting ripped off ... you get two guesses.

Link to this comment
drchuck1
05/29/12 at 4:21 pm

and next, the entire planet, when AI comes of age...of course, that was just a movie...cheers

Link to this comment
Robot
05/29/12 at 6:04 pm

Since a lot of spent nuclear tip ammo was used in Afghanistan, they want to track the movement of the people as they die slowly from nuclear dust particles over the next few years.

Link to this comment
theLordsDevil
05/29/12 at 9:05 pm

Lowest bidder parts in a country only interested in turning a profit, for two decades. Sure.

Link to this comment
theLordsDevil
05/29/12 at 9:06 pm

I guess it's better than land mines, which we still sacrifice kids to after they were deployed in the first and second, but not last, world war. Just don't kill me in a tunnel for pointing it out.

Link to this comment
cholin3947
05/29/12 at 11:47 pm

I think robot mean "depleted uranium tip ammo". The chemical toxicity of depleted uranium is about a million times greater in vitro than its radiological hazard. The latter of which is for all intensive purposes non-existent.

Link to this comment
ghost
05/29/12 at 11:49 pm

i think that this is a smart idea. if you think about it we have a roudy source of people who won't listen to us, we get yelled at for doing nothing and we get yelled at for doing something wrong, then we get yelled at because we are doing something too well. so we just bug the hell out of it and then no one can lie! we'll be so transparent we'll force others to do the same. if they really want to make this into an effective propaganda weapon they'd make the data gathered open to the public so we'd finally have a consistent view of what the hell is actually going on over there.

it seems like they could blanket an area with these by tossing them out of a plane or helicopter. i'm guessing something low altitude, but the biggest problem is the locals picking them up and investigating them. still i don't like that price tag, for that money it seems like i could start my own productions facility get it to them on the same timeline, and still charge half the price per unit. this is obviously a case of a congress man or woman getting paid a little extra on the side because they voted for Lockheed to make it.

to mars or bust!

Link to this comment
Robot
05/30/12 at 8:30 am

cholin3947

Yes thank you, this "depleted uranium tip ammo", is what I mean to state. And it is the dust from these rounds that is so hazardous.

If you belittle the harmful effects of this material, you also indirectly hurt the returning veterans that were exposed to this material too. Many return veterans are now suffering from the effects of "depleted uranium tip ammo DUST".

Just let the truth come out!

Link to this comment
SBMS2000
05/30/12 at 3:44 pm

... Are they just going to rain down rocks on the helpless villagers and concuss them endlessly with our spy rocks? Also are they going to look like those key rocks that people keep on their doorstep?

Link to this comment
Robot
05/30/12 at 7:11 pm

From the picture in the article, the solder has a puzzled look on his face, while holding a joy stick in his left hand and a simulated mound of poop in his right hand, while listening to a Military Intelligence Officer on the proper procedure in using this device.

Link to this comment
nighthawkich
06/09/12 at 9:33 pm

Big brother, meet little brother......

Link to this comment
scolinco
06/12/12 at 12:08 pm

Scolinco

I thought about this 3 yrs ago. its cost effective and steathly. I thought about this when I couldn't figure out which Dog was pooping on my front yard. I thought: "Hmm, maybe I should create a fake rock with radar and motion sensors on it that measures body heat, size and motions." My brother thought that I was crazy and too imaginative. Why O why didn't I suggest this first to the mil?

Link to this comment
bsmbahamas
06/19/12 at 5:49 pm

ah, the slippery slope rears it's ugly head. pretty soon they'll blanket the whole world. why doesn't the US just get out of there already? they must have something the US wants, why aren't they bugging Haiti and Africa too - maybe they have nothing that the US wants? this is silly, i hope that the leaders of Afghanistan have given explicit permission to allow bugging.

Link to this comment
bsmbahamas
06/19/12 at 5:57 pm

there is just so many ways this can be abused, how do you know these won't listen to conversations, or be used to turn on hidden camera or even trigger hidden guns or explosives as well? what is so important about Afghanistan
as opposed to all the other countries that need urgent help?

Link to this comment
i1haha
06/24/12 at 6:34 pm

One Word bsmbahamas oil



June 2013: American Energy Independence

Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more.


Online Content Director: Suzanne LaBarre | Email
Senior Editor: Paul Adams | Email
Associate Editor: Dan Nosowitz | Email
Assistant Editor: Colin Lecher | Email
Assistant Editor: Rose Pastore | Email

Contributing Writers:

Kelsey D. Atherton | Email
Francie Diep | Email
Shaunacy Ferro | Email

circ-top-header.gif
circ-cover.gif
bmxmag-ps