karn@eagle.UUCP (Phil Karn) (09/06/83)
In Reagan's speech this evening regarding the destruction of KAL 007, he mentioned that "standard international wave-lengths" for use by planes in distress are not provided on board Soviet fighters, "because it would make it easier for pilots to defect." I assume he is referring to 121.5 or 243.0 mhz, which to my memory (I'm not a pilot) are the standard civil and military emergency frequencies. I am a little surprised; does anyone have any info (like an AW&ST article or authoritative military reference) to substantiate this? Does anyone know what radio equipment IS standard on Soviet military aircraft? How about American military aircraft? The excerpts played during the speech sounded like conventional analog radio, probably not encrypted. I'm surprised that the Soviet pilots would talk openly when they must have known they were being monitored. Phil Karn
cdh@BBN-UNIX@sri-unix.UUCP (09/08/83)
From: Carl D. Howe <cdh@BBN-UNIX> My impression is that the Russian fighters are not provided with the radios to transmit on 121.5 or 243.0. The Russians have recently been claiming otherwise though, so no one knows. However, I seem to remember the Foxbat that was flown to Japan seemed to be lacking said radios. The Russian fighter transmissions WERE encrypted. The Japanese (quite possibly with our help) just decrypted them. In today's Boston Globe, there's an article saying that the Russians changed all the fighter frequencies and codes after the Reagan broadcast; the Japanese now say they can only decode 60% of what the Russians are saying now in the area. However, Japanese intelligence believed the release of the tapes to be worthwhile, despite the expected Russian reaction. Carl