GPS at risk as satellites targeted

Moscow’s behaviour in space is becoming ‘‘increasingly hostile’’, the head of US Space Command has warned, with concerns about frequent attacks on GPS satellite signals.

General James Dickinson said attacks on space capabilities such as GPS, which is used for navigation, mapping and timing, had become ‘‘part of our daily life’’.

Russian forces have been accused of using jamming systems to target GPS signals in Ukraine, with experts saying the technique has become a ‘‘common tool in Russia’s arsenal’’. Ukrainian military sources said various jamming systems had been deployed by Russia since the start of the war.

Interference with GPS signals, through jamming or ‘‘spoofing’’, can prevent people, vehicles, ships and aircraft from determining accurate locations.

The Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, said Russian forces were ‘‘actively using GPS jamming and other forms of electronic attack’’ in Ukraine, and had frequently done so since 2014.

Air Vice-Marshal Paul Godfrey, first commander of UK Space Command, told the Defence Space 2022 conference yesterday that the potential loss of GPS was a ‘‘very, very difficult problem ... That signal is easy to jam’’.

The head of the Royal Air Force said Russian satellites were continually making close approaches to other satellites, possibly to spy on other satellites or for ‘‘rehearsing something more sinister’’.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, chief of air staff, said: ‘‘Any loss or disruption to our satellite services would have a disastrous effect on people’s dayto-day lives. We cannot be complacent.’’

Wigston said the West was facing daily cyberattacks and dubious ‘‘sub-threshold’’ activity in space.