UNIFIL behind YES disturbances
Electronic disturbances that have played havoc with the YES
satellite television company's broadcasts in the past month were
caused by powerful radar equipment deployed onboard a Dutch Navy
vessel off the Lebanese coast, The Jerusalem Post has established.
The disturbances took the form of time delays on soundtracks as
well as distorted and fragmented pictures during broadcasts.
Sources close to YES say that the disturbances, which have caused
the company significant financial harm, were caused by an extremely
powerful radar system, exponentially stronger than the signal
beamed to subscribers' home dishes.
The radar was deployed by a UNIFIL vessel, possibly the Dutch
vessel HNLMS De Ruyter, an air defense frigate, off the coast of
Lebanon. Observers and subscribers are calling on YES to return the
monthly fees for YES subscription over the time of the
disturbances. Should YES return one month's fee to every subscriber
affected, the damages could potentially add up to NIS 100
million.
The Dutch frigate is a component of the UNIFIL force observing the
UN-brokered cease-fire reached after the Second Lebanon War.
According to the Dutch Ministry of Defense, the De Ruyter's orders
are to check for illegal arms transports into Lebanon and to
contribute to upholding security at sea.
The Post has learned that shortly after the Israeli Air Force
attack on a Syrian target on the night of September 6, perhaps as
early as a few hours after the attack, the Dutch navy vessel moved
into position and began deploying its radar to obtain as much
information as possible about the military events of that night in
northern Syria. That same night, massive disturbances to YES
transmissions were recorded, largely in northern Israel.
Netherlands Ministry of Defense head of Public Affairs Commander
Richard Keulen would not confirm that the De Ruyter moved into
position and switched on its radar on September 6, saying he could
not discuss operational details. Keulen stressed that he was not
ruling out the De Ruyter's possible role in the disturbances, but
added that there were other vessels in the UNIFIL flotilla
operating similar radar equipment which are also monitoring and
implementing the UN mandate reached after last summer's war.
Once reports of the disturbances started coming in, the Dutch
vessel was ordered to modify its radar transmission to minimize the
risk of distortion, Keulen told the Post on Monday, adding, "We are
not sure that we are the only cause of the distortion."
Industry analysts point to this example as a warning sign of one of
the possible directions future conflicts may take, in which massive
electronic interference is employed against civilian and military
communications infrastructure.
With hundreds of thousands of Israelis plugged into satellite
television services, as well as an increasing number of people
listening to radio through their TV sets, there is a feeling among
leaders in the telecommunications industry that the government
needs to look at ways to guard against possible electronic
disturbances on a mass scale during a time of conflict.
Industry analysts have warned that Israel's geography, strategic
location on the Mediterranean, and the density of its satellite and
cellular infrastructure leaves it vulnerable to a range of
electronic threats.
Modern armies are increasingly reliant on electronic and satellite
communications systems for command and control over most military
platforms, including GPS navigation and secure-channel
communications. In past conflicts, opposing sides sought to bomb
each other's electronic communications transmission sites, however,
powerful modern military radars could be used to jam broadcast
signals - effectively "destroying" them without the need for a
physical strike.
Last year, the Chinese military destroyed one of its satellites in
space, in a move that raised fears of possible strikes against
American satellites during a time of potential conflict. The US
strongly condemned the Chinese action at the time. Israeli Air
Force chief Gen. Eliezer Shkedy said at the time that Israel needed
to prepare to defend its space-based assets.
While there are intermittent disturbances to YES satellite
transmissions on a regular basis, the company was astounded at the
level of the disturbance that began on September 6. The effects
were felt mostly in the evenings, originally only affecting the
North, but after a few days spreading to the rest of the country,
and more and more subscribers began complaining and flooding the
YES customer service hotline.
YES, which always has one team on standby to locate and fix
disturbances to its transmissions, brought in two more teams and
also hired out a plane from Israel Aerospace Industries in an
effort to locate the problem. Eventually, the source of the
disturbance was located by focusing on the electronic "footprint"
emanating from the radar onboard the De Ruyter.
YES discovered that the strength of the De Ruyter's radar was
exponentially stronger than that of the average signal on a home
satellite receiver. It also found that the ship's radar could scan
up to 450 targets simultaneously. For the ship to be interfering
with the YES transmission, it had to be facing a certain direction
and transmitting on YES's frequency.
Keulen says that the De Ruyter operates a powerful APAR [Active
Phased Array Radar] system which tracks air traffic, both
commercial and military, in a specific area, via alternating
frequency transmissions.
"We are not there for fun. We are maintaining a good situational
awareness, and part of that is to get a really good picture of the
air traffic in the area that must be sent to the UN commander as
part of the posture of that mission, so that the commander can send
the information up the UN chain of command," Keulen said.
The officer would not comment on whether or not the De Ruyter was
given special orders on the night of September 6.
After locating the source of the disturbance, YES made a concerted
appeal to the Israeli government to intervene, first to the
Ministry of Defense, and later to other government officials.
The Defense Ministry requested that the Dutch vessel turn off or
modify its radar device. Since the radar works on alternating
frequencies, the Dutch were asked to perform a test with YES
technicians observing. The results of that test have not been
released, however, the disturbances to YES broadcasts officially
ended last Wednesday when the De Ruyter visited Cyprus, and was
thus out of range.
Angry YES executives have bandied the idea of a suit against the
government, arguing that as the company has paid for the right to
broadcast, it is the government's duty to protect them against
interferences of a security-related nature.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=1&cid=1192380562747&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
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No doubt the APAR is a more powerful radar. I wonder if the
Herakles can do the same? Each time someone blabbers something we
dont like, we would distort and disrupt thier favourite tv programs
like soccer. 
It`s deterrence of the
disturbing and annoying kind. lol.
But seriously, can the Formidables do the same thing? The Herakles
can track several hundred targets too.