Military GPS Jamming is Interfering with the Navigation Systems of Commercial Ships (cnn.com)
- Reference: 0180922506
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/03/07/0521211/military-gps-jamming-is-interfering-with-the-navigation-systems-of-commercial-ships
- Source link: https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/06/science/gps-jamming-ships-planes-iran-war
"The location confusion was a result of widespread jamming and spoofing of signals from global positioning satellite systems."
> Used by all sides in conflict zones to disrupt the paths of drones and missiles, the process involves militaries and affiliated groups intentionally broadcasting high-intensity radio signals in the same frequency bands used by navigation tools. Jamming results in the disruption of a vehicle's satellite-based positioning while spoofing leads to navigation systems reporting a false location. Though commercial vessels are not the target, the electronic interference disrupted the navigation systems of more than 1,100 commercial ships in UAE, Qatari, Omani and Iranian waters on February 28, according to a [2]report from Windward, a shipping intelligence firm . Jamming and spoofing also slowed marine traffic moving through the Strait of Hormuz, a congested shipping lane that handles roughly 20% of the world's oil and gas exports and where precise navigation is essential, Windward's data showed.... Daily incidents have more than doubled, rising from 350 when the conflict began to 672 by March 2, the firm reported.
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> As use of this warfare tactic grows, experts worry the impacts could reach far beyond battlespaces.... In June 2025, electronic interference with navigation systems was thought to be a factor in the collision between two oil tankers, Adalynn and Front Eagle, off the coast of the UAE... The number of global positioning system signal loss events affecting aircraft increased by 220% between 2021 and 2024, according to data from the International Air Transport Association. Last year, IATA [3]said that the aviation industry must act to stay ahead of the threat.
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> Cockpits are seeing their navigation displays "literally drift away from reality," said a commercial pilot, who didn't want to be identified because he was not permitted to speak publicly. He said that he and his colleagues have experienced map shifts, where the aircraft location appears to move up to 1 mile away from the actual flight path, false altitude information that leads to phantom "pull up" commands, and systems suggesting an aircraft was on a taxiway, a path that connects runways with various airport facilities, when taking off. These incidents force pilots to rely on manual actions that increase workload, often during the most exhausting points of long-haul flights, he said.
"Alternative navigational tools that don't rely on GPS, but instead harness quantum technology, are also in development," the article points out, "but remain a long way off operational use."
[1] https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/06/science/gps-jamming-ships-planes-iran-war
[2] https://insidegnss.com/gnss-interference-complicates-navigation-as-hormuz-shipping-disruption-deepens/
[3] https://www.iata.org/en/pressroom/2025-releases/2025-06-18-01/
Alternative nav tools that don't rely on GPS? (Score:3)
Like the ones used for hundreds of years prior to GPS?
Maybe a critical need shouldn't rely on a system that's a single point of failure. Especially in a region prone to combat.
Every pilot taught to use non-GPS methods (Score:3, Interesting)
> Like the ones used for hundreds of years prior to GPS? Maybe a critical need shouldn't rely on a system that's a single point of failure. Especially in a region prone to combat.
During ground school for a private pilot's license in the mid 1990s, a fellow student asked why we need to learn all these legacy navigation systems and techniques now that we have GPS. The first thing the instructor mentioned was the military turning off GPS.
I'd like to think that modern Boeing and Airbus jets are at least as well equipped at a Cessna 152 and have options too. And their pilots also trained for alternative technologies.
Re: (Score:3)
If you look at a map of GPS failure/spoofing/jamming incidents worldwide (prior to the assault on Iran) the densest area was around Israel, with the western US a distant second.
Loran (Score:2)
A ship radio navigation system that had been around in various forms since WW2 and very resistent to jamming. But naturally it was dismantled because GPS, who would ever need anything else, right?
Re: (Score:3)
Add to the list also naval NDB and DECCA.
Re: (Score:2)
Cost saving from what I understand. Looking a bit stupid in retrospect. A friend of a friend raced a nice sailboat in the 80's that had a system. A roommate in college had a plane with lots of cool radios/navigation stuff. GPS has probably obsoleted many of those systems too, like I think it was called VOR's.
Re: (Score:2)
In the Great Lakes all the straits and navigable river inlets have radar reflectors which allow pilots to triangulate their locations, some are lit so even in the case of all electronics puking at night navigation is still possible. No idea if Hormuz is so equipped, but it would make sense.
Re: (Score:2)
Those old methods are better than nothing, but there's a reason why things like lighthouses were so vitally important back then.
For GNSS systems, GPS isn't the only option now. It's getting harder to jam GPS, Galileo, Compass, and GLONAS all at the same time.
GPS receivers could be highly resistant (Score:2)
With sky facing, horizon shielding phased arrays they would almost certainly be able to be resistant against any non targeted jamming. Unless it originates from the sky (which it won't) the jamming signal has to fringe around the shielding AND overwhelm the phased array mixers. But military likes to keep the good stuff for itself.
Re: (Score:2)
> Unless it originates from the sky (which it won't)
What makes you think that? Both the US and Russia have airborne EWS systems that can spoof or jam GPS. Speaking of spoofing, that's the most common issue these days, not just straight-up signal jamming. Spoofing is much harder to deal with since the signals look legitimate.
Re: (Score:2)
The US will be a bit more polite in using it and US enemies trying to use it in the sky would be anti-radiation missile bait.
Spoofing doesn't do much when you know the location in the sky of your signal sources. Now you don't simply have to be in the sky, you have to overlap the satellites.
Any reports of effects on automobiles? (Score:3)
I would love to know if this is having much effect on automobiles. Notably on cars with semi autonomous driving.
Do we know how those vehicles are handling this? It seems the later Teslas make good use of their cameras, but what happens when they think they're far from where they really are?
Was it Honda that tried an inertial navigation system?
Could Tesla and others use camera input to override the bad signals?
And do expect systems to use normal broadcast signals to verify position. Hard to coordinate jamming all radio and TV signals.
Rotate the street signs 90 degrees (Score:1)
> Could Tesla and others use camera input to override the bad signals?
The defending military will just rotate the street signs 90 degrees. No really, its been done. :-)
Re: Any reports of effects on automobiles? (Score:2)
No. If your satnav says your in the middle of a field and your not then use a map and your eyes.
Re: (Score:2)
Death by GPS being a thing proves that while people should, they won't.
When I was in the Navy (Score:4, Funny)
All we needed was a hold full of grog and a sextant.
Re: (Score:2)
I think good radar and sonar would enable you to get through the Straits of Hormuz.
Of course you have to still worry about the mines and kamikazi frogmen with limpet mines on their backs.
Those empty tankers are stuck there for the duration.
Re: (Score:1)
> All we needed was a hold full of grog and a sextant.
What no hard tack? No compass? No chronometer? Man the US Navy sure spoiled its sailors by also providing these. :-)
There are solutions (Score:3)
There are solutions to both detect spoofing - like the free [1]Galileo OSNMA [gsc-europa.eu] - and work around it - like [2]using Starlink and/or OneWeb signals [techxplore.com].
[1] https://www.gsc-europa.eu/galileo/services/galileo-open-service-navigation-message-authentication-osnma
[2] https://techxplore.com/news/2025-12-starlink-oneweb-satellites-accurate-positioning.html
Re: (Score:2)
Looks like OneWeb was designed to get penguins and polar bears online.
(I checked and can't find anything about it being purpose-built for polar bases)
Need a low-grade GPS (Score:2)
It mighty be moderately useful to have a GPS that gets you "close enough" but isn't worth jamming for military purposes - something that puts you within, say, half a mile, so that shipping etc. aren't totally hosed. I know it's not good for navigating in close to shoals or shores, but in open water it'd be useful. I'm sure there's some flaw with this idea but meh, it might be worth pondering.
Glonass was not affected (Score:2)
I bet the Galileo system was working too as the EU first has to hold 6 weeks of meetings whether they can jam it or not.
Ah (Score:2)
So THAT'S why I saw skydive dubai parachuting plane heading towards iran airspace earlier...I thought a seal team was about to take over iran...