Iranian Drone Downing, Sats, and Myth of EMCON

An addendum to my post re China sats & tracking of US Navy Carrier Strike Groups
(CSG). A bonehead invoked the myth of EMCON that allegedly allows a ship to go
"dark." The boy's watched too much Hollywood fluff, but it's a good subject to
discuss. There is no "stealth mode" for surface vessels, especially not a CSG.

"Emissions Control" Alpha

EMCON Alpha: Highest level: radios, radars, navigation beacons, satellite links,
etc. are shutdown. All this does is prevent easy detection through ELINT sources
(sea-, ground-, and space-based systems). But if the general location of a ship
is known - an OSINT analyst did this by tracking the path of an Osprey from Oman
to USS Abraham Lincoln - the rest is easier.

Iran sends a drone to surveil the general area. Abe and its three escorts,
seeing the drone, activate fire-control radars (in case they have to
engage). Bingo! Christmas lights off the Omani coast. Abe is in the
crosshairs. The Iranian UAV shot down was doing this - and, ofc, raising the
middle finger to USN.

China's Maritime Surveillance Satellites

Yaogan and Jilin Satellites: They work together to deliver integrated ISR: ears
and eyes, respectively (see https://nitter.net/S_Mahendrarajah/status/2018414149160616297).

Yaogan are multiple teams of triplets, i.e., they can track a CSG's emissions
24/7. After passive interception of electronic emissions and geolocation of
same, say, when the CSG enters the Arabian Sea and goes "dark," Jilin-1
clusters, having received the CSG's coordinates, observe it 24/7.

Jilin-1 use AI-driven target detection: identifying wakes (CSGs leave multiple
wakes), ship shadows, movement patterns, etc. Both sats were specifically
designed for maritime surveillance - China's mainland has 18,000km of coastline;
14,000km more with its 1000s of islands. This is what Yaogan and Jilin do:
protect China from the US Navy. USN will not creep up on China by turning on
some magical stealth mode.

Real World Data

History: We have real world data thanks to Ansarallah - "Hootis" - who taught
the US Navy valuable lessons. Ansar never allowed CSGs to go "dark": every drone
or missile launched from Yemen forced CSGs to activate their electronics,
allowing the Iranian ELINT ship, MV Behshad, anchored off the Yemeni coast, to
harvest data.

China provided through its satellites high-resolution imagery; and real-time
data on coordinates and speed. The US State Dept whined about this (see
briefing, at State(dot)gov/briefings (search date: 17 April 2025) and sanctioned
the Chinese company that operates Jilin-1. Yaogan is PLA-operated, so, State
sucked it up. CSG crews were stressed - by their admission - needing
psychological counseling. Every CSG sent against Ansarallah had to retreat;
hence their pejorative nicknames, for e.g., "Fraidy Abe."

USS Abraham Lincoln

If US-Iran standoff gets hot, there will be no EMCON Alpha. Drones will buzz the
CSG, forcing activation of electronics, allowing Yaogan sats to triangulate and
geolocate targets for Iran's sea cruise missiles. A second Iranian drone is
heading out now to raise a finger to Abe. If Abe shoots it down, the next MQ-4C
that enters the Persian Gulf will not return to base.