Russia has stepped up satellite navigation jamming, especially around Moscow, in an apparent attempt to ward off any long-range strikes by Ukrainian drones.
Russia is , in particular GPS, which is operated by the US military and is ubiquitous in smartphones, car satnavs and other devices. Updates from the monitoring site show that Russian jamming activity has increased sharply within Russia (see map, above). The site gathers open-source data collected by commercial airliners, which automatically report interference with satellite navigation systems.
at the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation in Virginia says the rise in jamming followed in early December, which Russia claimed were initiated by Ukraine.
Advertisement
The attacks seem to have been carried out by drones assembled from commercial components, packed with explosives and guided by GPS, with targets located from commercial satellite imagery or other sources.
Ukraine hasn鈥檛 acknowledged responsibility for any drone strikes on Russia or Russian-held territory, but is known to have been .
Russia has a variety of military mobile jamming systems, some with a range of hundreds of kilometres, which broadcast radio noise to block out the weak satellite signals. GPS signals around the Kremlin in Moscow have been disrupted for some years.
鈥淩ussia has a history of doing this to protect against drones, and was most certainly doing so before the attacks,鈥� says Goward. 鈥淚t is reasonable to conclude the expanded activity is also defence against drones and the like.鈥�
Although short-range drones are directly controlled by an operator so don鈥檛 need to use GPS, long-range strikes generally rely on GPS to navigate, so jamming would generally prevent strikes orchestrated from a distance.
鈥淢ost require satnav to get to the vicinity of their target,鈥� says Goward.
While the current jamming is taking place inside Russia, previous incidents have affected neighbouring countries.
鈥淔irst responders in northern Norway, shipping in the Black Sea and telecommunications systems in countries neighbouring Kaliningrad, all have already suffered at various points,鈥� says Goward.
There is little information about any impact inside Russia. Goward says it is likely to be seen as a minor inconvenience, with important infrastructure using alternative technology.
Jamming won鈥檛 protect against all drones, however. Shahad-136 drones, for example, which , are equipped with navigation units that allow them to pass through areas of jamming.
