Aviaconversiya () is a Russian manufacturer of surface-based

electronic countermeasures An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to countermeasure, trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny ...

products, namely

satellite navigation system A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scientif ...

s deceivers. Oleg Antonov is the director of the company. Aviaconversiya was founded in the early 1990s as a private company, and it introduced its GPS jamming device at the 1997

MAKS Air Show MAKS (, ) is an international air show held at Zhukovsky International Airport, the home of the Gromov Flight Research Institute in Zhukovsky, Moscow Oblast, Zhukovsky, southeast of Moscow, Russia. The event was organized by the Russian Ministr ...

. In 2002 the US Department of Defense had bought $192,000 worth of equipment from the company. According to Western sources, Aviaconversiya deceivers were activated around

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

by the

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

government of

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

in order to disrupt

Coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

GPS devices, namely satellite-guided munitions, during the 2003 Iraq War. Russian officials dismissed the allegations, as did Aviaconversiya. In 2003 Aviaconversiya was described by

SIPRI Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) is an international institute based in Stockholm, Sweden. It was founded in 1966 and provides data, analysis and recommendations for armed conflict, military expenditure and arms trade a ...

as a small company, whose leadership included ex-Soviet army commanders who grew rich on a government monopoly for processing scrap metal from Soviet military hardware.

References

External links

Aviaconversiya Company Profile
on the MAKS 2003 website (archived)

{{authority control Electronic countermeasures Defence companies of Russia

See also

References

External links