GPS jammers installed on cell towers confuse US GPS navigation
Russia will install GPS jammers on 250,000 mobile phone towers to reduce the accuracy of enemy cruise missiles and drones in large-scale conventional warfare
The Russian military is buying jamming equipment to be installed on the tower.The idea behind it is simple - the Kremlin could turn on a jammer called Pole-21 to confuse US GPS navigation.
There are about 250,000 mobile phone base stations in Russia.
Russia is betting that jamming the missile's receiver will be enough to prevent a direct hit."The basic signal transmission of satellites is the basis of all satellite navigation systems," Russian military analyst Anton Lavrov told Izvestia.Therefore, even a minimum deviation from the specified frequency, even a few milliseconds, results in a loss of accuracy.”
The Office of Foreign Military Research of the Southern Army pointed out that these devices seem to be part of Russia's greater efforts to prepare for possible major conflicts.
“These moves dovetail with other Russian efforts to prepare for large-scale conventional war, such as large-scale ‘quick‘ exercises, reforming the backup system, exercising wartime command and control relationships, and testing the nationalization of industrial bases in the event of war .Transition to a wartime foothold,” says OE Watch.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has adopted the “Pole-21“ jamming system to protect Russian strategic installations from enemy cruise missiles, guided bombs and drones for navigating and targeting GPS satellite systems, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou . The latest jammer developed by the JSC “Scientific and Technical Center for Electronic Warfare“ (STC EW) - mounted on a cell tower, integrated with the transmit antenna station RFI P-340RP, combined into a network covering the entire satellite navigation dome unaffected by the signal block
Signals from all four satellite navigation systems that Pole-21 had to cope with used closely spaced frequencies, ultimately in the range of 1176.45 to 1575.42 MHz. The fact that even a transmitter with a total output power of 20 watts, in order to jam radio signals within an 80-kilometer radius, proves that Russia‘s latest system is capable of creating an impenetrable jamming dome.
At the same time, this system also has a disadvantage.As its description states, “This complex is useful to enemies using GPS radio navigation systems, as well as to domestic consumers of this GPS radio navigation system, as well.”
Russian GLONASS equivalents have caused interference
Russia is also considering using existing GSM mobile phone base stations as detection systems for drones, cruise missiles and light aircraft.