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AP: Military units track guns using tech that could aid foes

This 2017 image from video made available by the U.S. Air Force shows weapons stored at the Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas. Determined to track the whereabouts of their guns, some units of the U.S. Air Force and Army have explored radio frequency identification technology that could let enemies detect American troops on the battlefield, The Associated Press has found. The Marines and Navy told AP they will not put the technology in guns, in part due to security concerns. (Senior Airman Jael Laborn/U.S. Air Force via AP) This Thursday, Feb. 24, 2005, file photo shows radio frequency identification tags next to a pencil for scale in Cambridge, Mass. Determined to track the whereabouts of their guns, some units of the U.S. Air Force and Army have explored radio frequency identification technology that could let enemies detect American troops on the battlefield, The Associated Press has found. The Marines and Navy told AP they will not put the technology in guns, in part due to security concerns. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) During a radio frequency identification signal range test, firearms instructor Michael Palombo holds a Springfield Armory M25 rifle with an RFID tag inside it about 210 feet (64 meters) from antennas, top, on Sunday, June 6, 2021, in Hickman, Calif. Because the test was following Federal Communications Commission regulations that limit the power of radio signals, the antennas lost the tag at a distance that is nowhere near the farthest possible, according to hacker Kristin Paget. (AP Photo/Noah Berger) This 2020 image from video made available by the U.S. Marines shows weapons in an armory at the Yuma Marine Corps Air Station in Arizona. Determined to track the whereabouts of their guns, some units of the U.S. Air Force and Army have explored radio frequency identification technology that could let enemies detect American troops on the battlefield, The Associated Press has found. The Marines and Navy told AP they will not put the technology in guns, in part due to security concerns. (Lance Cpl. Joseph Exner/U.S. Marines via AP) Hacker Kristin Paget describes components used to test radio frequency identification signal range in Hickman, Calif., on Sunday, June 6, 2021. The green board is an RFID reader. Paget says it doesn’t take a Chinese or Russian cyber army to take advantage of vulnerabilities created by putting RFID tags in military guns -- a tinkerer with YouTube access could acquire the skills. (AP Photo/Noah Berger) Hackers Kristin Paget, right, and Marc Rogers set up a test to measure radio frequency identification signal range in Hickman, Calif., on Sunday, June 6, 2021. Thin RFID tags embedded in military guns can trim hours off time-intensive tasks, such as weapon counts and distribution. Outside the armory, however, the same silent, invisible signals that help automate inventory checks could become an unwanted tracking beacon. (AP Photo/Noah Berger) Firearms instructor Michael Palombo holds a Springfield Armory M25 rifle during field tests of radio frequency identification signal range in Hickman, Calif., on Sunday, June 6, 2021. Palombo inserted an RFID tag into the rifle for the test. (AP Photo/Noah Berger) Hackers Kristin Paget, right, and Marc Rogers adjust an antenna while testing radio frequency identification signal range in Hickman, Calif., on Sunday, June 6, 2021. Paget first warned publicly about the vulnerabilities of RFID in 2010, during a presentation at the annual DEF CON hacker convention. (AP Photo/Noah Berger) Firearms instructor Michael Palombo holds a Springfield Armory M25 rifle during field testing to measure radio frequency identification signal range in Hickman, Calif., on Sunday, June 6, 2021. Palombo inserted an RFID tag into the rifle for the test. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)