The current story says that the drone that hit our troops in Jordan wasn't recognized as a foe. Trent Telenko
suggests that it followed a US drone in, and that "the trailed US drone had no IFF transponder at all, as the MX12B micro Mode 5 Identify Friend or Foe (IFF) transponder was only certified in 2021."
To complicate things still more, I assume some of our drones will be duds. Will the transponders be salvageable, and re-used in enemy drones?
Per wikipedia, the current mark 12 IFF protocol has a 12-digit code following the interrogation pulse, and the IFF device in the aircraft sends no response to the interrogation if that pulse does not match what's been 'dialed in'.
ReplyDeleteSo the hardware is useless for infiltration if the US has reset that 12-digit code, and sending properly formatted IFF signals to reveal presence of US aircraft also doesn't work unless you also know the currenttly used code.