- New research analyzes GPS jamming signals over the past 7 years
- A Russian satellite network appears to be the source of the interference
- There are still questions about the purpose of the 10-second bursts.
Losing access to GPS navigation systems might not prevent you from finding your way to the office, but it would wreak havoc on military maneuvers, and that could explain why Russia has apparently been testing a way to jam GPS signals across the European continent.
Russia’s involvement and intentions have not been confirmed, but a new study by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and Stanford University (via Ars Technica) makes a pretty strong case. It analyzes a series of powerful “interference events” in Europe, Greenland and Canada, based on data collected between 2019 and 2026.
These events affected the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) on which GPS depends and may be caused deliberately or as a result of natural events (such as atmospheric interference). This new study focuses on sharp, intense and regular interference bursts that have lasted less than 10 seconds and that reach the same frequencies.
The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, maps out when and where these interference signals have appeared. They have mostly appeared during business hours in Europe and generally on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, making GPS signals harder to block and less reliable.
A potential source
Look
Figuring out where the interference was coming from needed more work. With the help of a larger team, the researchers calculated the source of the interference based on the times and locations of an event in February 2026. Those calculations pointed to the Russian satellite Kosmos 2546, with an accuracy level of five meters (16.4 feet).
Further analysis suggests that the rest of the system to which Kosmos 2546 belongs, the Russian Edinaya Kosmicheskaya System (EKS), is behind the interference. EKS is Russia’s only early warning system, intended to detect the launch of ballistic missiles from anywhere on Earth, so in theory it is largely passive rather than active.
What we don’t know is why this happens. “I think this is a massive escalation in the underlying conflict of electronic warfare that’s happening right now,” aerospace engineer Todd Humphreys, one of the researchers involved, told YouTube science and education channel Veritasium in a detailed breakdown of the study.
While the disruption appears deliberate, not everyone Veritasium spoke to is sure the acts are malicious. Other experts interviewed by The New York Times said they did not believe Russia would risk distracting its only early warning system for a secondary purpose.
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