Defense Technology International - January/February 2008 - (Page 42) WARFARE ASYMMETRIC MOTIVE AND M High-tech weapons are now a staple of insurgencies PAUL McLEARY•NEW YORK n December 2006, the Moroccan terrorist group Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb infiltrated the military zone in Algiers and bombed a bus carrying foreign oil workers, killing the Algerian driver and injuring nine others. The terrorists quickly posted a video of the attack on the Internet, including footage of how it was organized, with one segment showing them using the web site Google Earth to track the bus’s likely route. The attack didn’t produce mass casualties, but it did demonstrate an aspect of terrorist and insurgent operations that has become as e ective as murder and mayhem—the integration of technology in planning an action and broadcasting its results. Anyone can, of course, access a web site like Google Earth for information, or post videos on the Internet. But the use of these tools by terrorists and insurgents is the tip of a technology iceberg that’s changing the nature and lethality of the threat they pose. The ability of terrorists and insurgents to facilitate planning and promote their successes on the web helps generate recruits, funding and ultimately, state sponsors that supply high-tech warfighting capabilities previously available only to industrial militaries. These include electronic signals intelligence (elint) systems, electronic warfare (EW) jamming devices, computer hacking I skills and optronics. High-tech capabilities are also evident in the weapons these groups use. Terrorists and insurgents are acquiring increasingly sophisticated ordnance—some capable of destroying the capital assets of an industrial military. Much of this is homemade, but some, like the explosively formed penetrator (EFP), comes from state sponsors and is wielded with devastating e ect. The embrace of these capabilities results from the familiarity and comfort level that terrorists and insurgents now have with technology. Members of these groups grew up with computers, cell phones and other digital accessories. They are taking full advantage of the latest technologies in everything from communications to weapon systems to wreak havoc and, in some cases, fight conventional armies almost to a standstill. If combat in Iraq and Afghanistan and Israel’s war with Hezbollah in Lebanon taught the defense community anything, it’s that terrorists and insurgents are adept at acquiring and deploying advanced technology. “In general, the use of technology by guerrillas today is ad hoc—whatever works,” says John Robb, military and technology analyst, and author of Brave New War. “But there’s a lot more technology out there, and it’s networked.” As an example of how Internet use is growing in the battle for public perception, IntelCenter, an Alexandria, Va., group that tracks terrorists, reports that in 2007, Al Qaeda’s media arm, U.S. MARINE CORPS PHOTOS 42 DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008 www.aviationweek.com/dti http://www.aviationweek.com/dti
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