Involving advanced weapons in active service, the source of the leak has not been found yet! How serious is the "largest leak in history" by the US military?-瞭望新时代网

Involving advanced weapons in active service, the source of the leak has not been found yet! How serious is the "largest leak in history" by the US military?

2024-07-11

The largest leak in the history of the US military has recently attracted attention. A large number of confidential performance manuals of US military equipment, including F-15, F-35 fighter jets and a variety of UAVs, have been put on the Internet for download. Because the key weapon information involved is very complete, military enthusiasts even call them "we can build a fighter plane in the garage by ourselves". Although the Pentagon remains silent on this matter, the US Technical Times reported on the 9th that similar leaks have occurred multiple times in recent years and may expose the true weaknesses of US military equipment. According to reports, a Russian account called "Combat Bomber" announced on social media on July 2nd that "a US company has voluntarily provided over 250GB of US military equipment data", and has released some of the files to over 500000 fans. So far, some files are still available for public download. This is also known as the "largest leak in the history of the US military.". The South China Morning Post in Hong Kong cited analysis from cybersecurity experts, stating that "we downloaded and checked these files, and many of their contents appeared to be highly authentic." The leaked files include the user manual for the F-35 stealth fighter, technical manuals for the F-15C/D and more advanced F-15SA fighter jets, "Spring Knife" drones, and "Jedam" precision guided bombs and other related documents. "These files are very detailed and have a format similar to other US military intelligence leaked online earlier. However, strictly speaking, these are not blueprints or design files, and their true value can only be evaluated by professionals." The report stated that these leaked files have caused a sensation in the global military fan community, with some even jokingly saying that with these detailed information, "it is now possible to build fighter jets in garages.". It is reported that many parts of these materials are marked with signs such as "no external transmission" or "confidential information", and some materials have undergone extensive blackening, indicating that they should be classified documents belonging to the US military. The most eye-catching among them is the hundreds of documents detailing the American made F-15SA fighter jets provided by the United States to Saudi Arabia in 2016, including accompanying flight manuals, maintenance and repair manuals, and weapon system operation manuals. The first part consists of over 400 pages, providing a detailed introduction to the various systems of this heavy fighter jet. The second part is about 40 pages, mainly involving the basic flight operations of F-15SA. The third part has 110 pages, including emergency operations for F-15SA, the fourth part explains the responsibilities of pilots, and the fifth part has 50 pages, mentioning operational limitations such as fighter jet speed and altitude. In addition, these documents also include detailed information on the AIM-120C advanced medium range air-to-air missile and AIM-9X infrared combat missile currently in service by the United States Air Force. The Pentagon is currently silent on the extent of the threat posed by the large-scale leakage of US military equipment data, and there are differing opinions on the authenticity and severity of these data. The South China Morning Post stated that the individuals providing these documents may be US military companies or impersonating their "third parties", which contain various information from confidential to public. For example, some files related to the F-35 stealth fighter have been edited, which may indicate that they have been decrypted. Because the US military typically decrypts certain files when deemed safe, although these files are publicly available, critical information is often encoded or erased to protect sensitive data. Although the technical documents related to the F-15SA fighter jet are very detailed, they are mainly used as a simplified introduction for maintenance personnel and pilots, rather than a complete design document, so the actual technical reference value is not significant. "There is almost no content that can benefit China, Russia, or other countries with advanced technology." However, the Technical Times also mentioned that the "Fighter Bomber" account claims to have 250GB of US military equipment files, and only a small portion of them are publicly released. Therefore, there may not be publicly available documents that include other confidential information from the US military, from which weaknesses in the equipment of US fighter jets can be identified. In addition, cybersecurity personnel have also warned not to download these suspicious files, as hackers may use popular events to spread viruses, and downloading malicious files may cause user devices to be infected with ransomware or Trojan viruses. Frequent incidents of military equipment network leaks have occurred in recent years, according to the website of Flight International in the UK. "Such leaks may expose the weaknesses of military equipment to the enemy and threaten their military capabilities." In December 2023, someone on a dark web data trading platform claimed to be selling a "export controlled" US military aircraft manual. The seller claims that the total size of the file is 5GB and the list price is $20000. What has attracted high attention from military forces around the world is the increasing phenomenon of players voluntarily disclosing confidential military equipment information in game forums. For example, in January last year, a player posted confidential information about American F-15 and F-16 fighter jets on the forum of the famous military simulation game "War Thunder". The Guardian of the UK reported that players from various countries can simultaneously operate fighter jets, ground vehicles, and warships in a "duel" on "War Thunder". Due to disputes among players over the performance of weapons and equipment, this game has experienced at least 10 leaks since 2020. For example, in July 2021, a player had a dispute with others over the armor protection of the British Challenger 2 main battle tank in the game. According to the UK Defence Journal, in order to prove his professionalism, the player uploaded screenshots of documents from the UK Army Equipment Support publication in the game discussion group to prove that the game developer made modeling errors. He also explained in detail which components were mistakenly placed by the designers and compared their positions with the descriptions in the publication, pointing out how to modify the data to make the game more realistic. The UK Ministry of Defense subsequently confirmed that the materials shared by the player were still confidential information. In October 2021, multiple players had a dispute over the performance parameters of the French Leclerc main battle tank in the game, and a French Army tank crew member immediately released some confidential manual information for this type of main battle tank. (Lai Xin She)

Edit：HAN ZHUOLING Responsible editor：CAICAI

Source：xinhuanet

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