Chinese UAV/UCAV development

Not sure why you're so surprised, windows has been the base upon which some military OSes in the west are built on as well. I think the USN's Zumwalt runs on Linux, and there was a well documented incident in 1997 where the cruiser USS yorktown was disabled due to a problem with the windows NT testing as part of an attempt to introduce new smart ship capabilities.

And if you do a google search on the matter you can find quite a bit more detail, though usually from more niche sources.

E.g.:
Absalom runs a version of Windows 2000 for their console OS


FREMM consoles use Windows or Linux

CIC of FREMM: look on the far right, you can see the good old windows logo


The Visby also uses Windows NT derived OS


I haven't found what OSes USN ships use, but I expect windows or linux as well.
Edit, found an article that seems to confirm the USN used windows since the late 90s in f fleet wide modernization, although it also criticizes using windows as an OS base. Key point I think is that it is common to develop military versions of commercial OSes. :

Hell, even the E-3's OS is based off windows!

Bltizo said:

Not sure why you're so surprised, windows has been the base upon which some military OSes in the west are built on as well. I think the USN's Zumwalt runs on Linux, and there was a well documented incident in 1997 where the cruiser USS yorktown was disabled due to a problem with the windows NT testing as part of an attempt to introduce new smart ship capabilities.

And if you do a google search on the matter you can find quite a bit more detail, though usually from more niche sources.

E.g.:
Absalom runs a version of Windows 2000 for their console OS

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FREMM consoles use Windows or Linux

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CIC of FREMM: look on the far right, you can see the good old windows logo

The Visby also uses Windows NT derived OS

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I haven't found what OSes USN ships use, but I expect windows or linux as well.
Edit, found an article that seems to confirm the USN used windows since the late 90s in f fleet wide modernization, although it also criticizes using windows as an OS base. Key point I think is that it is common to develop military versions of commercial OSes. :

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Hell, even the E-3's OS is based off windows!

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Click to expand...

There is a huge difference between Linux, Windows NT vs Windows XP.
Windows XP is one of the worst, most exploitable OS known to date. Windows NT on the other hand is much more secure; while Linux can be hardened as there are variously variants of Linux that are specifically designed to be military-spec hardened.

Ultra said:

There is a huge difference between Linux, Windows NT vs Windows XP.
Windows XP is one of the worst, most exploitable OS known to date. Windows NT on the other hand is much more secure; while Linux can be hardened as there are variously variants of Linux that are specifically designed to be military-spec hardened.

Click to expand...

Err Windows XP is considered part of the Windows NT family....


Besides, it isn't like the military OSes which are developed from the likes of COTS OSes like Windows and Linux are ported onto ships, aircraft or UAV consoles without modification.


And here is a UAV control station offered by lockheed built to STANAG 4586, and designed to operate Windows derived OSes, among others


I'm not quite sure if you have the knowledge to comfortably make the claims your making, and the derision when you saw those Chinese UAV stations using windows makes me think that your reaction was not because they were using windows XP per se (hell the only thing indicative of windows XP is the grass/sky wallpaper), but rather the fact that they were using windows. Which makes me wonder if you knew that it was common place for military OSes to use derivations of commercial OSes in the first place...

Ultra said:

There is a huge difference between Linux, Windows NT vs Windows XP.
Windows XP is one of the worst, most exploitable OS known to date. Windows NT on the other hand is much more secure; while Linux can be hardened as there are variously variants of Linux that are specifically designed to be military-spec hardened.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Click to expand...

Linux safe? Not really. It is flayed here.



To quote a comment from another source:

It's a proven concept that security through obscurity rarely helps. Yes, it's a new OS so no "hacker" knows how it works, but it is a fact that overtime information about it will be revealed through ex or disgruntled employees. Maybe even through the researchers themselves.

Being a "custom" OS, it will have security issues of their own and no one apart from the original researchers would be able to identify or fix them.

Click to expand...

It might make sense to base your system on OpenBSD.

Or FreeBSD, which China chose as the base of their own OS. It is touted as a far more secure operating system than OpenBSD.

EDIT:
Nevermind.

t2contra said:

Or FreeBSD, which China chose as the base of their own OS. It is touted as a far more secure operating system than OpenBSD.

Click to expand...

I thought China is working with Ubuntu to create a localized version.

Also, I thought the CH series are for export only

Unconfirmed Chinese UAV spotted in Iraq. Either CH-4 or Predoctyl. Maybe you fine fellers can identify this UAV.

Bltizo said:

Not sure why you're so surprised, windows has been the base upon which some military OSes in the west are built on as well. I think the USN's Zumwalt runs on Linux, and there was a well documented incid

Bltizo said:

Not sure why you're so surprised, windows has been the base upon which some military OSes in the west are built on as well. I think the USN's Zumwalt runs on Linux, and there was a well documented incident in 1997 where the cruiser USS yorktown was disabled due to a problem with the windows NT testing as part of an attempt to introduce new smart ship capabilities.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

USN and so do most services in the US military are primarily a Microsoft shop. It's called the Common PC Operating System Environment or COMPOSE. They are however moving to a Linux based kernel though. I believe the DDG 1000 MMEs uses Red Hat Linux base kernel. It's also important to note the differences between a ships’ IT systems and networks and her core naval functions. Combat systems, and machinery control networks is usually different system.

One of the things that the USN has been adopting in the last few years is the CANES developed by NG for shipboard wide architecture for C4I applications.