‘Splodey Walkie-Talkies?

| September 21, 2024

It just gets more fun.

The brand of allegedly exploding Hezbollah walkie-talkies is Icom, model IV-V82. Icom is a Japanese company, still active in the handheld radio market. Only one small detail: They stopped making that model of walkie-talkies ten YEARS ago. Also stopped making replacement batteries.

Icom exported its IC-V82 two-way radio to regions including the Middle East until October 2014, when it stopped making and selling the devices, the Osaka-based company said in a statement Thursday. It has also discontinued production of the batteries needed to operate the main unit, it said. The company earlier had warned customers that almost all IC-V82s on the market are counterfeit.

Oops… that’s gonna make backtracing them difficult.

From a supply chain viewpoint, someone has a very slick operation going on if they are making them – they would have to reverse engineer the circuit boards, modify the battery units where the explosive was allegedly secreted, probably even have to acquire injection molds for the housings. More likely is that someone acquired a bunch of  counterfeit units and modified them.

Among the many outstanding questions is how explosive materials were planted in the devices. If the Icom walkie-talkies are genuine and manufactured a decade ago, it’s likely they were modified well after sale to their original customers. The company can’t determine if the walkie-talkies are its own, but said the exploded devices appear to lack the hologram labels attached to its products.

Supposedly hundreds exploded. Make that a very, very  slick operation.  No holograms? Almost certainly no one in Icom had anything to do with it.

Icom won a contract in the 1990s to supply the U.S. Department of Defense with transceivers.

Okay, that may be a bit less than comforting. But unless they were acquired from a third party, they are probably OK. I’d still think inspections are in order, hmmm?

The company’s shares rose 2.6% amid a broad rally in Japanese stocks.  Time

 

Category: Israel, Middle East

52 Comments
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Forest Bondurant

Killing off senior leadership and discouraging basic methods of communication is gonna leave a mark.

1000002692
ChipNASA

You know some people got fuss and bitch and cry and moan. FUCK EM!!

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Fyrfighter

Is that a message from / about the Harris campaign???

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neande

The company’s shares rose 2.6%.
LOL! BRAVO!

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neande

Not only would one have to reverse engineer the circuit (as best as possible) for the basic and some of the advanced features (wouldn’t expect to be able to duplicate them all), but some of the ICs would most likely be proprietary and not COTS. So, BRAVO to the shop behind the copy cats.

STSC(SW/SS)

It may be proprietary but when you’re dealing with the Mossad, anything is possible.

11B-Mailclerk

Mossad usually speak softly, but they do have a booming voice.

RCAF-CHAIRBORNE

They should have rebranded them as Sploderolas

KoB

“This tape will self {cause} destruct in 5 seconds…”

5JC

They found a secondary battery manufacturer who makes batteries packed with energy. They only last a second but your transmission can be heard all the way to Hell.

Hack Stone

When Phil Monkress of All Points Logistics sold them the radios, he explicitly asked them if they wanted the rust proof/non-exploding option, and they declined. He assured them that these radios were “da bomb”.

Hack Stone

Hezbollah investigators traced the explosions to users not ending their transmissions with “Over”, over.

26Limabeans

I think “Out” would be more approprate.

11B-Mailclerk

Station Mike Oscar Wun leaving the net, and earth, at this time, out.

5JC

I’m thinking Hezy IT is going to hold the feet to the fire on next year’s cyber security training. Like literally.

Don’t plug just any USB drive into your laptop that you think has some first rate goat porn on it until you run a scan disc on it.

Last edited 2 months ago by 5JC
RGR 4-78

comment image

rgr769

That’s a locker pin-up for the Hezi-slamofascists.

11B-Mailclerk

Deep Goat

Major Tuddy

Over, Oveur…and don’t call me Shirley.

A Proud Infidel®™

Are you going into Airplane Mode on us?

26Limabeans

New cellphones on the market to replace “throw aways”.
They’re called “blow aways”.

Fyrfighter

Gives new meaning to “burner’ phone

jeff LPH 3 63-66

Got to be like 40 years or so, our Dept. wanted to go the cheap way on handelds so they bought Ritron handhelds and they were so bad, we called them shitrons. We get a 2 story taxpayer job in the corner building and after the K/D, one of the Dep. Chiefs pops up at the window on the # 4 side and starts to talk into the shitron and the chief on the street can’t hear shit so he yells up to the chief on the second floor to talk louder and the chief screams into the mike so all of us below can hear him. That was the end of the shitrons and after that, the dept went to Motorolas and has been using them since. Shitrons and water didn’t mix to well either…

jeff LPH 3 63-66

RIM SHOT

Hack Stone

Dat’s a good one.

Old tanker

I understand the call that did it was, “breaker 1 9, this is detonator. How copy over?”

26Limabeans

Loud and clear.

BlueCord Dad

Since it appears that Mossad didn’t infiltrate the beeper supply chain because they WERE the supply chain, the same may apply to the ‘splodey w/t’s…
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/09/in-re-op-grim-beeper.php

5JC

I appreciate AOCs efforts to try to use US intelligence to support Hezbollah. However Congress doesn’t need an accounting of the attack since no US assets were involved and the SEC State and SECDEF have both said unequivocally they didn’t know a thing. Not only that but US Intel community sold away any credibility they had for short term political gain between the phony Russian Dossier and the Biden laptop letter years ago

BlueCord Dad

AOC is a maroon…bugs said so😎

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E. Conboy

Bugs for President!

TopGoz

My eyes aren’t what they used to be… looking at that picture of the radio while on my phone and without zooming in, I would swear it says “boom” on top.

RGR 4-78

It says ICOM. The “I” is stylized with a small circle attached to the top of the I.

TopGoz

RGR… yeah, thanks. I got that once I zoomed in.
Magnification works wonders.

Skivvy Stacker

It was done the same way helicopters are able to fly…MAGIC.

Fyrfighter

PFM… IYKYK

TopGoz

I heard long ago the true secret… Helicopters don’t fly. They’re so ugly, the Earth repels them.

SFC D

They beat the air into submission.

Jimbojszz

They are easy to modify. I configured mine with a MARS mod and they work perfectly. Aviation VHF are absolutely the best, fantastic backup radio.
I have used an A6 for Black box searches and it works incredibly well. The terrorist got a superb radio with great reception. Really great reception.

11B-Mailclerk

Mossad: ” Can you hear us now, oy vey…”

Army-Air Force Guy

Pretty soon they’ll be forced to use Baofeng hand held radios. At least if you lose it or it craps out on you (or explodes), you’re only out a few bucks.

Jimbojszz

I think the baofeng has a bigger battery too. Something to keep in mind. And Chinese stuff is so fucked up and unreliable. Who would know if you swapped a couple parts out to make them go bang.

ChipNASA

Imma just leave this here…

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RCAF-CHAIRBORNE

Gender Afirming communication received

Daisy Cutter

Shootie-bangs!

BlueCord Dad

Breaking news from Al Jazeera….

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A Proud Infidel®™

That’s some stuff that would have made James Bond himself jealous!

11B-Mailclerk

Don’t let your dingle-dangle mingle with the dirt!

Mop up your dingle-dangle. Now you wear a skirt.

rgr769

The report I read said there were about 1900 crotch injuries from the pagers with about 900 causing permanent genital damage. So, there are some Heziboleans that won’t be reproducing. Good, Good. I guess it pays to keep your pager in your back pocket, instead of next to Deez Nuts.

RCAF-CHAIRBORNE

If only they were Acme brand

Hack Stone

Some asshole named Hack from Bethesda was just on The Chris Plante Show (WMAL Washington DC) talking about the exploding comm gear. Someone needs to take him out with blowtorches and pliers.