GPS Jamming in Ukraine, Middle East Can Be Beaten, New Trials Show

Widespread GPS jamming that looms large over war zones can be overcome, new trials have indicated, which could have major implications for conflicts raging in the Middle East and in Ukraine.

California-based GPS developer, oneNav, has successfully tested a new technology that conquered widespread GPS interference in northern Israel, where jamming and spoofing—giving false location data—is rife, the company said.

GPS receivers in commonly-owned devices like iPhones, Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel smartphones—as well as Garmin watches—fell prey to GPS interference in the Haifa area of northwestern Israel, the company said. But oneNav's GPS receiver, known as the L5-direct, "maintained accurate location fixes despite active jamming and spoofing."

There are several satellite systems providing data about location, such as the U.S.'s GPS, Russia's GLONASS, or Europe's Galileo. These systems have been plagued by jamming, where location tracking is blocked, and spoofing—where a device throws up a false location—have become widespread in several areas of the world as wars blaze and geopolitical relations sour.

Interference is common in Ukraine, where electronic warfare is ubiquitous. Russian jamming is thought to have made some of the U.S.-donated precision-guided weapons sent to Ukraine far less accurate than they should be on the battlefield.

In the Middle East, too, Israeli efforts to confuse weapons launched by Iran-backed militant group and political party Hezbollah from southern Lebanon frequently force smartphones to show a false location of Beirut.

Several NATO countries in Europe have reported extensive GPS interference in recent months, which officials have blamed partly on Russian activity in its Kaliningrad exclave on the Baltic Sea.

Jamming and spoofing can impact military aircraft, weapons and drones, but can also confuse the navigation systems on commercial and civilian planes.

"Building an atmosphere of threat and a sense of helplessness in society is undoubtedly one of the goals that Russia is pursuing," a Polish Defense Ministry official told Newsweek in March.

OneNav said one of its field studies, carried out in April 2024, "confirmed widespread Russian GPS jamming from Finland to Turkey," but its L5-direct receiver was "immune" to attempts to jam the L1 signal.

The L5-direct receiver works by picking up on a band of GPS signals referred to as L5, rather than the older L1 signal that has dominated for decades. L5 signals are around 30 times harder to meddle with than L1, according to oneNav.

Most smartphones, airplanes and cars can use the L5 signal, but not before picking up the L1 which is so widely affected, the company said.

Bypassing the L1, as the L5-direct has "huge implications for current events in Ukraine, as GPS jamming is affecting everything from U.S. drones and missiles on the battlefield to the country's most critical infrastructure," oneNav's chief executive, Steve Poizner, told Newsweek. "Transitioning critical technologies in the war effort to use the most modern band of GPS available could have a significant impact in efforts to overcome Russian jamming," he added.

"Make no mistake, GPS interference can happen in any war zone and even our domestic critical infrastructures are at risk," said retired U.S. Navy rear admiral Mark Montgomery, a member of oneNav's advisory board.

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