GPS Jamming Responses in the Armies of Different Countries
North Korea reportedly purchased 30- to 60-mile vehicle-mounted GPS jammers from Russia in 2011, which were used as long-range jammers. More than 60 miles away, Seoul is home to half the population of the Seoul metropolitan area.
North Korea has developed GPS jamming capabilities to counter GPS-guided weapons that South Korea and the U.S. military could use in war. The country has a global positioning system (OTC) near the Pyongyang capital and camps near the Demilitarized Zone.
North Korea's fourth round of GPS jamming since 2010. The previous attack affected about 1,000 civilian aircraft and South Korean military drones. A 2012 attack reported that GPS-based car navigation systems affected Seoul's capital.
South Korean officials stressed that the attack did not cause serious GPS interference because the aircraft can also use traditional inertial navigation systems (INS). INS does not rely on external signals and is anti-jamming.
Countries react differently to possible GPS interference.
The US military research agency has an experimental "single-chip timing and inertial measurement unit". When complete, it will use tiny gyroscopes and accelerometers to track its position without the need for satellites or radio towers, according to the project owner. The White Sands Missile System in New Mexico is installing a "non-GPS-based positioning system" that uses ground-based antennas to provide centimeter-level positioning over more than 2,500 square miles. The Canadian government says this will have a positive impact on the anti-jamming upgrade of military aircraft.
The U.S. Air Force's new version of the bunker bomb, designed in part to destroy Iran's nuclear power plants, includes technology to prevent defenders from jamming its satellite navigation systems.
British General Lighthouse (GLA) follows seven new e-Roland stations. Engineers say this will replace visual navigation as an important backup to GPS. In mid-2014, it cost less than £700,000 to operate; receivers cost £2,000 per vessel. Coverage will cover all major UK ports by 2020.
But for many users, GPS and other location-based navigation systems — including Russia’s GLONASS, China’s full Beidou and the European Union’s unfinished project Galileo — remain essential and ubiquitous.