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GPS signals are an important part of our everyday lives. From our own smartphones to commercial enterprises such as airlines and freight companies, GPS tracking has become an essential tool across the globe.
The technology is also vital for modern military operations, and in the last couple of weeks, widespread disruption of GPS tracking has been detected around a number of Russian cities.
As reported by Wired, GPS monitoring system GPSJam has noted a sharp increase in GPS jamming or blocking since a series of successful drone strikes against military targets in Russian territory. Although the attacks are unclaimed at the moment, it’s highly likely that Ukraine is responsible.
GPS disruption has not been widespread in Russia since the start of the country’s war with Ukraine. Some disruptions had been recorded in Belarus and along Finland’s border with Russia, however, and in Moscow, where the Kremlin regularly interferes with GPS signals.
From 11 December, however, disruptions have increased around the Russian cities of Volgograd, Saratov, and Penza — all of which are within Ukraine’s newly revealed drone-strike envelope.
“What we’re seeing now, since about a week ago, is GPS jamming bubbles covering hundreds, if not thousands, of kilometers around tactical cities,” Erik Kannike, program manager at Estonian intelligence company SensusQ, told Wired.
It’s been a different picture inside Ukraine, though, where Russian forces have made efforts to disrupt a number of GPS and similar global navigation satellite systems. Most notably, Russia hacked the Viasat satellite network, destroying a large number of satellite terminals during the opening stages of its invasion.
The Viasat hack also affected a number of countries in Europe.
Since the start of the war, Russia has targeted telecommunications infrastructure with missile strikes, and taken control of the internet in Russian-occupied areas to surveil the population and censor news.
GPSJam, which was launched earlier this year by John Wiseman, clearly shows the disrupted areas with a series of red hexes. GPSJam uses aircraft tracking and signals data to pinpoint where GPS signals are probably being disrupted.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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