Russian satellites have caused seconds-long GPS outages across Europe on several occasions, according to new research provided to The New York Times by scientists who specialize in GPS technology and a person familiar with a U.S. Air Force briefing on the jamming.
The Times has also learned that the European Union has conducted an investigation into the incidents, though its results are classified, a spokesperson said.
The findings are part of a research paper published on Thursday by Todd Humphreys, head of the Radionavigation Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin, as well as research conducted separately by Richard Bowden and fellow navigation experts at the large Spanish technology firm GMV.
Together they concluded that in at least three of the 75 instances they identified since 2019, the interference originated from Russian satellites. While they suspect the remaining cases implicate the same Russian network, they say the available data is not granular enough to pinpoint the culprit. But in all the incidents the same type of signal appears to be causing the interference. Mr. Bowden also said intentional jamming signals typically look like random noise, whereas this signal is clearly structured and well designed.
The scientists have been unable to determine the Russians’ motives or if they even know whether their satellites’ signals are interfering with GPS services. But what concerns experts is that this activity — whether nefarious or incidental — can go on uninterrupted for years, and can disrupt a technology so foundational to the modern world. An E.U. spokesperson said they are building a system to “detect and locate interference,” among other measures to defend the critical navigation signals.
The press office for the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., said, “As for now, we don’t have a comment on that.”
Senior U.S. Air Force officials were briefed on the interference, according to a person familiar with the briefing who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal government assessments. The person confirmed that the interference was occurring and that the Russian satellite network was responsible, but didn’t specify the quantity of incidents or the intent.
Most jamming works by producing a strong, noisy signal on — or adjacent to — the same frequency as a GPS signal. Scientists liken it to how a person shouting in a room will drown out a person speaking at a whisper.
In this case, the disrupting satellites are sending signals adjacent to a widely used GPS frequency, but they are strong enough to bleed over. The disruptions occur almost entirely in Europe, and they affect the GPS networks of the U.S., China and the European Union — though not Russia’s.
The interruptions have affected devices from Iceland to Italy, but are fleeting, lasting less than 10 seconds at a time. They haven’t caused major disruptions since most devices are able to draw on a user’s last known position to navigate for a short period of time, or briefly resort to a backup signal.
These cases are among the first known examples of GPS interference originating from space. The other two publicly known cases of satellites — one Chinese and one American — interfering with GPS signals were the result of one-off technical glitches causing interference on lesser used frequencies.
But even if the interference is unintentional, researchers, academics and former military officers have serious concerns about the threat that jamming from space poses to GPS. While it’s possible to jam from the ground or a ship or a plane, they all have significantly less range than a satellite.
Dana Goward, head of the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation, which advocates more secure GPS infrastructure, explained that GPS services are not just found in consumer-facing apps like Uber or Lyft, but do everything from synchronizing electrical grids and cell towers to generating critical alerts for aircraft.
Despite its important role in everyday life, experts said it’s often taken for granted. “GPS is just like electricity,” said Gen. William Shelton, former commander of the U.S. Air Force Space Command. “You put a plug in the wall and expect power to be there. Same thing with GPS.”
Non-space-based jamming is increasingly used as a method of electronic warfare in Europe and the Middle East. But it has usually affected devices in relatively small areas, since the jammed devices must be within sight of the transmitter emitting the interference signal.
But with a space-based jammer, “someone could, if they wanted to, selectively jam an entire continent every day,” said Ramsey Faragher, head of the Royal Institute of Navigation in London.
The three satellites implicated in the interference studied by the scientists belong to a Russian constellation known as EKS, which is responsible for detecting missile launches and nuclear explosions around the world, according to Bart Hendrickx, a historian of the Russian space program.
The first instance of this widespread jamming was recorded in October 2019, one month after the first of the active EKS satellites was launched. The most recent was detected in mid-February.
Mr. Hendrickx and other experts said they would be surprised if Russia was intentionally using these satellites for jamming, because their primary purpose is to serve a much more critical function — they are Russia’s only known early warning satellites.
“I believe quite strongly that nobody would mess with early-warning satellites by adding some secondary mission,” said Pavel Podvig, director of the Russian Nuclear Forces Project, which tracks and publishes information on arms control and Russian strategic forces.
Regardless of who is responsible, Dr. Humphreys said, the interference should be “a wake up call for all of us.”
Julian Barnes contributed reporting.
