As an ex RAAF radar engineer, I'd say you're around about 180 degrees out of phase. There is always money available for security measures such as crypto etc - it's installed in all US aircraft(and indeed in nearly all of their allies' aircraft), and if it wasn't being used, it would be because people couldn't get their act together to keep keys synchronised and other bothersome administrative details. It would indicate a lack of discipline, particularly in the 'middle-management' level (around about Colonel level), not a lack of money.
That said, I'm personally dubious about this story being true - it reads more like a Serbian trying to explain how clever he was against the dumb Americans, even though his country got its butt kicked. Certainly for the AWACS guys, comms security is their bread-and-butter, so I'd be really surprised to learn that they stuffed it up so badly...
> That said, I'm personally dubious about this story being true - it reads more like a Serbian trying to explain how clever he was against the dumb Americans, even though his country got its butt kicked.
He never puts it that bluntly. And well, admit that he has something to brag about. As an ex RAAF radar engineer I'm sure you realize that scoring F-117 with ancient S-125 is no trivial feat.
As to his country getting its ass kicked, well. Really, what other outcome was there ever possible, victorious Serbian banner over Washington?
Well quite. The full might of NATO against an impoverished ex-Communist state approximately the size of Maine armed only with obsolete cast-offs. Well done America, you sure "kicked butt" there.
Now imagine what might have happened if the USAF had actually had tried to go up against fully equipped Red Army air defences. So much for Stealth.
There is always money available for security measures such as crypto etc
But that simply isn't true. Why're British forces stuck with the outdated Clansman system? Your GSM mobile phone is more secure than the current-issue kit.
That said, I'm personally dubious about this story being true - it reads more like a Serbian trying to explain how clever he was against the dumb Americans, even though his country got its butt kicked. Certainly for the AWACS guys, comms security is their bread-and-butter, so I'd be really surprised to learn that they stuffed it up so badly...