Thieves Steel Equipment From Russian Nuclear Doomsday Plane

Does this mean the entire comms system will have to be redesigned or at least have a different encryption system installed?

I would expect that to be the case,as even if they find the stolen gear,theres no way of knowing if its been examined/compromised.

Wouldn't like to be the guy who gets caught pinching that either...I doubt they will be seen again if caught.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

My guess is the actual henchmen were Russian though.

Maybe even guys that work there. Unless they are super lax with any type of security, how else would they get close to a supposed classified aircraft?

originally posted by: CriticalStinker
a reply to: FauxMulder

Sounds like espionage.

I have a hard time believing the thieves didn't know the area was militarized.

So the question would remain which country. We all know the obvious ones, but that's a huge risk in the times we're in.

My guess is the actual henchmen were Russian though. A country would take a huge risk sending their own countrymen... And a lot of Intel services use assets for things like this as oppose to their spies or officers.

While I have no idea who did it... II just want to throw out China as a possibility. Russia and China are both skeptical allies. I'm sure China has a large interest in the communications of their neighbor.

Sounds like something Julius and Ethel Rosenberg would do. You know their two kids, Michael and Robert (Meeropol) still hate America for electrocuting their parents for espionage when they were caught spying for the Soviet Union.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

It was undergoing maintenance, which may have included radios. If they were undergoing maintenance as part of the work, they would have been pulled out and easy to walk away with. A person working there reported a suspicious individual around the area that claimed to be a radio operator.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Yea I think it's pretty obvious they knew.

I was just going through the logic to rule out standard thievery. Kind of like showing your math.

I think that part is obvious.

There is one question I do have though... How'd the story get out. Russia notoriously keeps things like this under wraps to save face. Hell, this one is embarrassing enough most countries might want to keep this from getting out.

Another possibility is it could be a ruse by the Russians to hopefully light up some clandestine lines of communications involved in espionage.

Again, I find it odd they actually came out and said it was communications equipment which was stolen. This seems very leading.

a reply to: FauxMulder

When they're in the hangar, it's surprisingly easy to get close to them. We had 160th SOAR flying out of one of our hangars. It was a dual hangar, so they were using one side. All they did was hang thick tarps all around the side and front of the hangar. There were times no one was there, and you could have easily walked into their hangar, despite everything but them being there was classified. Even if there were guards around the hangar, you can get around them multiple ways. And depending on the maintenance being done, it's not always done on a military base, which makes it that much less secure.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

It was undergoing upgrade at a civilian location, which meant that civilian police were involved. That makes it much easier for a leak to get out.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Yea, the more I think about it, the more bizarre the whole thing is.

a reply to: Zaphod58

The story said the plane was at "Taganrog Aviation Scientific and Technical Complex". Not sure if that's a military base or not. You're right about hanger security. We really only had whoever was on duty sitting at a desk by the front door on the weekends. I was thinking along the lines that if this would supposedly have Putin and other top leaders on board during a conflict, they might have a little better security on it.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: CriticalStinker

It was undergoing upgrade at a civilian location, which meant that civilian police were involved. That makes it much easier for a leak to get out.

That makes a bit more sense.

Do you think they would have removed the most sensitive equipment prior to sending it off for repairs?

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk

Again, I find it odd they actually came out and said it was communications equipment which was stolen. This seems very leading.

Maybe a false detail to find a mole?

a reply to: FauxMulder

It's not. That's the home of Beriev Aircraft Company. They primarily produce amphibious aircraft, such as the Be-200, as well as maintenance on other aircraft.

As for hangar security, this aircraft has been in maintenance and upgrades for at least a year. They generally don't provide much security when it's in heavy maintenance like that, for several reasons. One is that it's not going anywhere for awhile and is going to have a lot of people crawling all over it. The expectation is that it's going to be extremely difficult to do anything because of that.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: MykeNukem

The radios include the encryption systems used by the Russians. It won't let anyone eavesdrop on all their transmissions, as they can change the frequency hopping rate and frequencies, but it's going to give a big leg up in the right hands. They had to totally change communications protocols and encryption after the Chinese got their hands on the EP-3 at Hainan. There's a lot more to these radios than just transmitting on radio waves that, in the right hands, is going to be useful as hell.

Agreed.

I was just trying to point out that almost ALL communications depend on Radio.

I'm going to check Craigslist now....lol

a reply to: CriticalStinker

They remove some equipment, yes. It depends on the facility where they're doing the maintenance at as to how much and what type of equipment is removed. We used to just about gut the interior of our VIP birds before sending them to the Depot.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Ah, that makes sense.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Sounds similar to our depot level maintenance? I'll be curious to see if any further info ever comes out of this.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Would these be fully integrated setups?

Or modular?

Can you just steal the Modem?

a reply to: FauxMulder

I would doubt it. I'll bet Russian officials are pretty unhappy about the amount of information which has already gotten out!

Makes the thieves just that much harder to catch.

a reply to: MykeNukem

The radios themselves just screw into the mountings. Four screws usually, a couple connectors on back, and Bob's your uncle.