Russia's Aerospace Forces Conduct First GPS Jamming Experiment Against NATO Countries from Space
Malfunctions at ground-based GPS stations were recorded across much of Europe and North America, lasting up to 10 seconds. After detailed analysis, it was found that the issue occurred exclusively within NATO member countries. Another unusual phenomenon was that the interference only took place during weekdays in Western Europe—Tuesday through Thursday. All malfunctions occurred at the same frequency: 1575.42 megahertz.
Russia has become the first country in the world with the capability to directly interfere with the Global Positioning System (GPS) from space. By comparing the timing of the interference with the orbital trajectories of satellites, scientists pinpointed the source. The signal originated from Russia’s missile early-warning system satellites. This marks the first conclusive evidence identifying a specific spacecraft responsible for GPS jamming.
One of the satellites used to generate the interference was launched in 2020 and operates in a highly elliptical orbit. The spacecraft spends most of its time at altitudes of tens of thousands of kilometers, primarily monitoring the northern hemisphere of Earth. For NATO countries, this is clearly bad news. If Russia can "jam" GPS systems from space, Western military forces would lose their strategic advantage in navigation and precision-guided weaponry. The 10-second disruption was likely just a test; real-world applications could be far more extensive and prolonged.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1867660629633024/
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