every aircraft now constantly broadcasts its position, velocity, and altitude information, and anybody who wants to can build a ground station capable of receiving this information.

Isn't this a pretty serious security concern? What if some armed group gets their hands on these real-time aircraft flight paths?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Ignoring the fact that everyone has their hands on these flight paths because it's publicly available data, what if they did? Genuinely, what do you think is the worst that can happen?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

More of this.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

You know militaries don't need publicly available flight tracking to shoot down planes, right? Like, they have machines that tell them exactly where everything in the air near them is all the time.

Plus, airlines literally post departure and arrival times on the internet as part of their business model. Even if you didn't know exactly where the plane was and when, you could make a pretty educated guess based on that information.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That wasn't a military. It was a separatist group. My concern is that broadcasting your location significantly reduces the difficulty in shooting you down, to the point some armed group can do it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Even the older Mode C/S transponders broadcast altitude, and passive radar could probably get you position. As I understand it, ADS-B doesn't add a ton that wasn't already available (from the point of view of a terrorist), but it does eliminate the need for radar, and includes ICAO hex codes that make it easier to uniquely identify an aircraft.

To shoot down a plane flying at 33,000 feet you'd need a surface-to-air missile system and a few missiles. Looks like the system used to shoot down MH17 cost ballpark of $100m, possibly more. Missiles are around $200k each.

You get target tracking and missile control radar included for free in your mobile SAM. At that point ADS-B is probably redundant, though I guess it could help you track the plane before it enters your airspace.

Though, really, where an airplane is going is usually not a secret. In most cases a flight plan will be filled (unless VFR). And there are other sources for near-realtime and realtime flight path information, including directly from the FAA.

You could also hire spotters with binoculars just to confirm that the plane is headed towards your mobile SAM.

Or, once the flight plan is filled and the departure time is confirmed, just stand outside the airport with a shoulder mounted missile launcher.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Ah, I see. That makes sense.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

I mean everyone can already get their hands on it: https://www.adsbexchange.com/

The exceptions to ADS-B requirements include military aircraft. Awhile back a friend and I were in the Nevada desert and some F-35s buzzed past us at only a few hundred feet. I was curious about the flight so I checked ADS-B exchange, and sure enough there was no trace of it. Friend got a cool picture though.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Generally speaking we rely on a culture of trustworthiness more than we rely on a culture of security in the US.

It’s why you can buy things with a credit card without showing ID. You can sign with a slightly squiggled line and it never gets looked at.