China has revealed a chilling list of US naval targets it could look to strike should to two countries engage in a future conflict, according to a bombshell new report.
The “hit list” was published in the state-supervised magazine Defence Industry Conversion and reportedly includes radars, sensors, and communication equipment.
The report was authored by Mo Jiaqin, an expert in electronic countermeasures for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), who claimed the army could “hack” a major US Navy communication system.
It includes details on how the PLA could hack into the US Navy’s Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) system that shares defence resources between the entire fleet.
The PLA said it could attack it with fake signals and “continuous access requests” that would “overwhelm” the electronic warfare system, according to the South China Morning Post.
The report claims the army could mimick the “correct signaling method” to “infiltrate the CEC network as a cooperative unit and launch attacks”.
Jiaqin wrote: “Continuous access requests can be made to overwhelm one of the CEC nodes with identification tasks, disrupting its operation.
“[The report can] provide references for the development of electronic countermeasures technology and related equipment in China’s future naval battlefields.”
Jiaqin also detailed the CEC’s strengths and weaknesses, arguing that its use of radars can be taken advantage of by foreign actors looking to interfere.
She explained: “It [the CEC] is formed through the networking of phased array radars, which relies on wireless communication links. When the opposing force employs electronic interference, the wireless links are prone to disconnection or disruption.”
It is not yet known why this report was published and whether it will be taken seriously by the Chinese military in the event of a future conflict.
