flying blind
Russia defends itself against drone attacks in Ukraine – and blocks the GPS signal
A Tupolev M-141 (Tu-141) “Strisch” of the Ukrainian Air Force during the “United Efforts” exercise.
© PS ZSU / mil.in.ua
The war in Ukraine is no longer taking place exclusively on Ukrainian soil – the defenders use old Soviet drones to bombard strategic targets behind enemy lines. Russia wants to prevent this by disrupting the tracking systems.
In Russian cities near the Ukrainian border, more and more vehicles are probably getting lost. The reason: According to a report by “Wired”, Russia has started to jam the GPS signal. Apparently, the converted Tupolev drones of the type Tu-141 in Russia are causing great psychological damage – and they rely primarily on the GPS signal for navigation (find out more here). For about a week, experts like the Estonian defense intelligence service SensusQ have been noticing so-called GPS interference bubbles that are said to extend over thousands of square kilometers.
This can be seen on a world map on the “GPSJam” website. The map collects information from aircraft that report disruptions during the overflight if the location via GPS fails. This also explains why there is currently no data for Ukraine – there are currently no passenger planes flying over the country.
Large areas in western Russia without GPS reception
The disturbances are particularly noticeable around Kaliningrad, Moscow, Krasnogorsk, Volgograd, Smolensk, Saint Petersburg and large areas from Pensa to Samara. There are also disturbances on the border with Finland, near Murmansk. Similar conspicuous disturbances are otherwise only found in Syria, Lebanon, parts of Turkey, Iraq, Israel and Armenia. However, the signal interruptions around the Russian center of power in Moscow are by no means new – localization systems there have probably been blocked for years for security reasons. On the other hand, the huge zones along the border towns are relatively fresh.
According to experts, the proximity of the GPS jamming to Ukraine allows the conclusion that Russia primarily wants to use it to defend itself against attacks carried out using GPS-guided weapons. In the past few weeks, the Ukrainian armed forces have increasingly used converted Tupolev drones, which had been launched at Russian targets with modern tracking systems and explosive charges.
Since Russia had failed to adequately protect strategic targets and large bombers were sometimes lying around carelessly on the runway, the unmanned flying objects almost caused major damage and destroyed Tupolev Tu-22M supersonic bombers. However, Russia got away with a black eye and then apparently strengthened the defensive measures.
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In principle, there are several methods of interfering with the positioning. With so-called “jamming” signals are sent that temporarily or completely prevent reception. If, on the other hand, a technique called “GPS spoofing” is used, manipulated signals can be sent that specify completely different positions than the satellites. Effective defense against strong jammers is very difficult due to the relatively weak signal strength of GPS. It is possible to use special directional antennas that make it more difficult for jammers on the ground to intervene. Another way is through the use of alternative navigation systems, such as inertial navigation (INS). This works independently of locating signals from the environment, so it is not influenced by jammers.
Russia underestimated Ukraine
When a drone like the modified Tupolevs loses its GPS signal, it can pose a threat to bystanders. Because without a clear destination, the drones fly almost blindly until the fuel is used up – and then they hit.
For Estonian military experts, the use of jammers marks a small but significant development in the course of the war. “The efforts indicate that Russia, at least in winter, is adopting a much more defensive stance and focusing on preventing domestic incidents. The days when the Russians underestimated Ukraine’s long-range strike capabilities are certainly over,” Erik explains Kannike, a program manager at SensusQ.