Patriot Games (1992) - Satellites

Patriot Games (1992) - Satellites
CIA analyst Jack Ryan and his team are trying to find an IRA training camp in North Africa using Imagery and Geospatial Intelligence (IMINT and GEOINT).

[@bobbyricigliano2799]

The technology used in this film seemed so futuristic and amazing when it hit the theaters. It all looks ancient now.

[@kirkstanfield3773]

Still looks pretty modern to me. Remember this was the 1990s in which there was a surge in the shifting of technology.

[@badlaamaurukehu]

Same diligence.

[@BennyMcGibbon]

Really? Yet they couldn't even see an active shoota from an elevated position with scopes trained right on him?

[@gawainethefirst]

@@kirkstanfield3773 actually, the US government had this technology for at least a decade at this time.

[@elxaime]

3:48 "Are you sure this is the same woman?" "I find your lack of faith disturbing."

[@euclideszoto997]

I know one definite truth about the CIA, FBI, NSA. If the coffee machine is broken, it is not a nice place to be around in.

[@stevearmstrong5324]

Hell, that's any American office.

[@edwardmoore5325]

Don't know about that cause humpty trumpty s office had a good coffee maker but it was still a disaster.

[@euclideszoto997]

@@edwardmoore5325 Those sophisticated Flavias, Keurigs, Starbucks, etc, etc was just quick, instant coffee on the run. The old style decanters, drip coffee machines using real grinds is what most wanted.

[@euclideszoto997]

A lot of them use the automatic drip coffee machines that drip into pump thermoses. Some still liked the glass decanters though.

[@chrisg1023]

@@edwardmoore5325 better than biddy tiddys office when he sh*t his pants. That or when he's falling all over stage or on a flight of stairs.

[@plissken2156]

3:12 - "Give me a hard copy, right there."

[@tubularfrog]

This was 30 years ago. Now they could read the tattoo writing on the woman's boob. No photo recon, all digital and more powerful. The real -time level of resolution would amaze you. They wouldn't send in SAS, they'd use drones and wipe them all out. No big deal. Boom.

[@leghunter9201]

They could do that during the cold war. Now they can see someone masturbate through a roof.

[@mybuttlookslikeurfac]

Crazy to think how far we've come.

[@TreXXen]

okay general

[@tubularfrog]

@@TreXXen you're damn right it's okay, Private.

[@StuffWriter]

Read a tattoo from an orbital satellite? I'm skeptical. From a surveillance drone, sure. From a satellite, through atmospheric distortions? I doubt it.

[@DarthJabba504]

Men of Culture, solving international terrorist networks.

[@badlaamaurukehu]

"Arab Spring was queer."

[@Eadbhard]

DarthJabba, trying to make a funny comment on KZbin.

[@ColemanJRimer]

"Do you have any idea how big a deal it is to re-task those satellites?" "Yeah... that's why I just laid all this shit out."

[@CoryBlissitte]

I would not expect Tom Clancy to know this, particularly in 1987 when Patriot Games was written, but electro-optical satellites (even Talent Keyhole reconnaissance satellites) take imagery from nadir to very oblique angles. "Retasking" a satellite is not a terribly big deal, really it amounts to shuffling the satellites target deck so that the intended target is earlier or later in the lineup so that the satellite views it from a different position. And while I love the idea of the FMV satellite feed over the camp when they attack, such a thing is just not that feasable with even current technology. This presumes that he is talking about changing the targeting order and not something like changing the orbit. They (the NRO) do not change satellite orbits for anyone. At the time of the book and later the movie, NASA and USGS was the primary source of overhead unclassified imagery to draw from when doing research into such things. Much of it was (very) low resolution, and often was restricted to near nadir shots to maximize apparent ground resolution. Thus oblique shots were hard to come by.

[@shelbynamels7948]

love how all eyes are on him. Doens't leave him much of a choice now, does it??

[@coolcat6303]

Fun fact: the guy in the glasses 🤓 is Ted Raimi (brother of director Sam Raimi).

[@jonnysupreme]

NERRRRRRRRRRRD

[@djargus]

Ted acted in seaQuest DSV.

[@coolcat6303]

@@jonnysupremeYep. Proud of it too!

[@kentallard8852]

long time bit part actor

[@saber6a]

I liked him on seaquest

[@brucekrom3298]

Those KH-11s & KH-12 satellites are legendary. Jack Ryan, my hero 🍺👌 passing the time during this Corona.

[@dougschneider4728]

It’s not a big surprise that weapons used in the Lord Homes incident were traced to an arms dealer that supplied Gaddafi - he was a big supplier of the IRA.

[@billjoe39]

and obama had him killed

[@kentallard8852]

And the CIA was supplying him Semtex through Edwin P. Wilson

[@KevinBurciaga]

Google Earth in 1992.

[@IronMan-tk8uc]

Yes. All of these technologies were military before being released into commercial hands, after they were plaintifully exploited it.

[@tempesttempest769]

Google didn't existed before 1997

[@calvinnickel9995]

@tempesttempest769 Whoosh

[@tylerseboe]

2:55 Was this done as an homage to Blade Runner?

[@lufasumafalu5069]

Blade Runner reference in the map analysis scene

[@matthewwollert3531]

Nice catch!!

[@normm1619]

Was gonna post the same thing….

[@kennarajora6532]

Harrison Fords face really just sells the whole joke forward.

[@Watcher3223]

_"Do you have any idea how big a deal it is to re-task those satellites?"_ Of course, if the enemy knows when the satellites will be overhead and can hide from them, then what's the point? They're useless for their intended purpose until you re-task them. The job may be hard to do, but the logic behind why to do it isn't.

[@TheRealTburt]

Couldn't you use a U-2 rather than a satellite?

[@Watcher3223]

@@TheRealTburt Perhaps, but the CIA wasn't using the U-2 in the 1990s. They'd have to ask the U.S. Air Force.

[@michaeleverest7631]

Never thought id ever hear Darth Vadar mention the SAS LOL

[@jamjardj1974]

To Han Solo of all people!😂

[@robertmayfield8746]

@@jamjardj1974 🤣

[@jebthegodemperor7301]

lmao "enhance"

[@Agent1W]

3:49 Yes...I...felt her presence.

[@Nighthawke70]

Retasking reconnaissance satellites are a godawful mess of orbital paths, fuel budgets, electrical resources, not to mention the cost! It's possible, but they don't just do it for no single terrorist group. But OTOH, retasking the birds also means that the satellite office will get VERY busy looking at other assets and resources that are unaware of the changes made. A bonanza for everybody that's hunting for Threats.

[@jessicaregina1956]

Oh so you can't just retask satellites to observe single suspects running from the nsa?

[@RobertClolery]

Read the book.

[@terrygracy8345]

Clancy books are amazing

[@mcqueenfanman]

3:15 to 3:30 yeah she has nice ones!

[@auntsally36]

Han Solo and Darth Vader

[@kdubs9111]

Every time they refer to ‘the bad guy’ just remember the state department was responsible for them in the first place and the agency is just cleaning up the loose ends.

[@drgrant]

Yeah if the Blade runner reference wasn't 110% intentional id be surprised. :)

[@DaftSwank]

What Blade Runner reference?

[@LayneBenofsky]

@@DaftSwank zooming/enhancing of photos. It's practically a meme in and of itself.

[@toddfrendell6837]

Enhance

[@tylerseboe]

@@DaftSwank kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZrUnJaieK-mkNUsi=TTzrIB13ULp7YRR9

[@euandrecampos]

03:08 "Give me a hard copy right there" Deckard

[@greghong5010]

One of my favorite scenes 👍

[@ReviveHF]

Now, we have photoshop and windows apps to do the image analysis.

[@inkyguy]

Grand Moff Tarkin, Windows?!?! 😂

[@45thnewsbrigade-tacticalop60]

Yeah but back then the Intel 486 was the shit 😆

[@cygnus1129]

I wish he would give this role one more go.. I liked Harry as Jack Ran.

[@lizzygibbons6682]

Reminds same hans solo and dark Vader from Star Wars films

[@ryancoulter4797]

Enhance. Enhance. Enhance. Enhance…

[@wongsifu460]

If America uses British SAS instead of their own special forces is a testimony to how lethal SAS are

[@LayneBenofsky]

It's also a sort of plausible deniability thing, I'm sure.

[@slappymcgillicuddy7532]

they use whoever is closest to the target really, North Africa is sort of where the SAS was operating at the time, I do believe in the book it was French SF since they operate in Africa too

[@gaelicreaction1049]

They would have used the SAS for political reasons. Technically, America wasn't at war with the IRA, and it would have pissed off a lot of Irish-Americans if American special forces were used.

[@dark2ooth]

@@gaelicreaction1049​​⁠Exactly, and the SAS would have already been conducting direct and covert action against paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland.

[@danielserrano591]

desk top computer portable web

[@havanadaurcy1321]

My grandfather told my parents one day he was working clerk for a big commander (First gulf war I think), anyway he usually went by John to most people he clerked but this commander who it was obvious was a Tom Clancy fan (this was around PG) kept asking why aren't you SAS? The answer was his eyesight, grandfather received it from his dad.

[@johnlucas6683]

John Clerk. Hehehe

[@Brendissimo1]

I knew the moment I heard the music the first time I watched this that it was James Horner. Strong similarities to his work on Braveheart.

[@WanderlustZero]

Elsewhere in the film his Aliens soundtrack gets reused too

[@coolcat6303]

Horner was kinda notorious for recycling some of his own music from earlier films. But there was still enough original material there to make each soundtrack unique from his other works.

[@calvinnickel9995]

Yep.. Horner definitely recycled his own music.. like how you hear the leitmotif for Khan at the start of Enemy at the Gates. But.. he and other composers are also standing on the shoulders of giants. Both he and John Williams borrowed from Holst (Star Wars and Star Trek) and Tchaikovsky (Home Alone and Star Trek as well).

[@Brendissimo1]

@@calvinnickel9995 great points

[@simongarrettmusic]

Enhance!

[@LeeePowers]

Why the "Dramatic Zoom" on Marty?

[@GrayFoxROU]

Because he didn't liked the idea of retasking the satellite.

[@danielserrano591]

desk top computer bildin date hours manners

[@Cukito4]

This isn´t Blade Runner, Harrison.

[@stripemcr5722]

harder than make and sent a satellite to the orbit was to get anything out of those pictures due to poor image quality

[@hailhydra7959]

E.N.H.A.N.C.E

[@danielserrano591]

data procesing

[@TalentSpotter83]

How would the IRA unit know when the CIA satellites are overhead?

[@stargazerspark4499]

Probably tipped off by their Libyan hosts who got intel from the Soviets.

[@SuperChuckRaney]

now you can go online and see the sats in real time. not sure if CIA ones are on display

[@jinlim6575]

it came out not to long ago that many heads of ira were actually part of three letter agencies..

[@MaxwellAerialPhotography]

A telescope and basic astronomy math, Or helpful intelligence.

[@MrPicklerwoof]

American institutions were packed with IRA sympathisers over the years, it wouldn't have taken much for one of them to secretly mention the likely satellite timings.

[@v1per187]

Gaddafi..... and what would happen to him almost 20 years later?

[@CarlosAngelo1]

He used the most advanced boob-detecting tool: Male Eye 1.0.

[@variableknife4702]

When Keyhole Hexagon was where it was at.

[@howshecuttingbogman8999]

Yet again the brits and yanks punishing the Irish.

[@spotifyde5979]

Harrison Ford: enhance

[@Bertiesghost]

ENHANCE

[@johnofmalta]

“Enhance. Enhance.”

[@backalleycqc4790]

"My God, Man! If you want to see tits, use another computer!!!"

[@harrydebastardeharris987]

Catholic Majority in 2025

[@RedStarRogue]

Would they have had digital cameras on spy satellites by 1992 or shot on a reel of film and digitized it before transmitting?

[@G_de_Coligny]

Call TRW tech support, they might still have sales pamphlet.

[@shaider1982]

Digital by KH11. The ones that took film tossed the exposed ones into the Earth to be caught by cargo planes (KH4 Corona)

[@eddietat95]

Gadhafi - there's a name I haven't heard in a looooong time. I wonder if they found all of the pieces of his body yet?

[@MA-vw1pl]

This could be Rick Deckard's grandfather....

[@Komnenos1234]

Does the CIA really have discretionary control over the SAS.

[@Procket12]

The SAS doesn't need any motivation from the CIA to want to take out IRA. The CIA is just pointing them in the right direction.

[@richardwest8753]

No but if the US let slip to the Brits its an IRA camp the SAS will do the rest

[@MaxwellAerialPhotography]

All you have to is call it cooperative intelligence sharing, and maybe throw a few million in operational funding their way, and SAS will hit just about anything on earth.

[@thesaint8400]

They'd just pass this across the pond. The IRA was a British issue.

[@uncleghandi5771]

Five eyes.

[@evanfinch4987]

dude wants his family back

[@laur100]

Zoom and enhance.

[@BROTHERJONATHANBURG]

Proverbs 15:27 “He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live.” BE CONTENT WISELY!!!!! REPENT AND BE BAPTIZED EVERYONE OF YOU IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS AND YE SHALL RECEIVE THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST!!!!! AND BY HIS STRIPES THAT HE TOOK UPON HIMSELF LORD JESUS CHRIST STILL HEALS ALL THAT BELIEVE UPON HIM ALONE THAT ALONE IS GOD!!!!

[@calvinnickel9995]

God doesn’t exist.

[@danielserrano591]

deposit 2 computer center bank computin

[@ReaverLordTonus]

I'm curious how they could know the Satellite was moving over them to begin with. Since when does the IRA have access to CIA Satellite data?

[@breandanwheeler5267]

They don’t but the KGB would have through spies. The IRA are communist and were allies with the USSR who would have provided that data.

[@calvinnickel9995]

@ReaverLordTonus Because satellites are easy to see and amateurs can create almanacs of them based on their location and trajectory (KH satellites are in low polar orbits for 100% coverage of the Earth).

[@5anjuro]

Probably with a $200 amateur stargazing telescope.

[@scottingleneden9316]

now we can do it with google earth

[@mactire6045]

Zoom and enhance cliche.

[@woodscraftlindsay789]

Calf and walla walla wa I'm shore its here Cortana

[@mdayubalibisnes2586]

The sharp harmony weekly itch because spinach directly trace at a salty hydrogen. taboo, selective editorial

[@danielserrano591]

data procesing

[@johnharison8439]

I want full movie

[@gc3k]

Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi

[@scouttroop291]

yes you go it sean edwords ira fighter shhh you dont see if you do thay will kill you shhh

[@coolcat6303]

Has nothing to do with this movie.

[@jeffreyrichardson]

Scott?

[@jeffreyrichardson]

august klienzahler doug jody michael and scott what is and whats fought

[@jeffreyrichardson]

worcester state clinic scott and laurie stating facts dr rauch a quack (Dr. Rauch convicted of insurance fraud)

[@howardcroft3748]

This movie has been completely forgotten....and for good reason. It was terrible!

[@BROTHERJONATHANBURG]

FATHER JESUS LOVES YOU!! LET HIM!! ALL GODLY CHILDREN ARE MY HOLY HUMBLE KINGDOM & PERFECT BEFORE ME ALL TIMES AND ARE BY HIS STRIPES WE HEALED! REPENT & BE BAPTIZED EVERYONE OF YOU IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS & YE SHALL RECEIVE THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST!

[@usgator]

Satellite technology, even in the ‘90s, was way better than that. They could zoom in enough to see the rank on soldiers’ shoulders. There’s a funny inside story about the second Hubble Telescope. If you put a dime on top of the Washington Monument in DC, you could read the writing on it with the Hubble from LA. NASA had a back-up Hubble they never launched and offered it to the National Reconnaissance Office. The NRO turned them down saying it was too large and they had better, smaller things anyway. The NRO then handed down two older telescopes to NASA that were better than the Hubble. www.space.com/16000-spy-satellites-space-telescopes-nasa.html

[@G_de_Coligny]

Wouldn’t they need to rotate the solar panels 180° to use a hubble class sat to look at the earth. Plus the fact that they would have opposite light sensitivity requirement…

[@usgator]

@@G_de_Coligny that may be why the NRO declined using it.

[@Swarm509]

Didn't NASA take ex spy sat tech and use it for the Mar's mapping missions? I feel like I heard a story similar to yours, they basically gave them the satellites and told this was old equipment and the NRO had better stuff they would be using.

[@usgator]

@@Swarm509 they did. The NRO gave them two older telescopes, from the 70s I believe, that were equal to or better than the Hubble. They were outdated tech to the NRO.

[@calvinnickel9995]

Negative. Atmospheric distortion makes it impossible.