The theory that they broadcast communication on a band near GPS in order to discourage jamming of their early warning system sounds likely. Flexing the ability to jam GPS is pointless, since it's obvious that any state actor who has military satellites in orbit has considered this option or have the capability already. Therefore, the disruptions must either be regular tests of the capability, or just actual communication. Right?

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ordu 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> The theory that they broadcast communication on a band near GPS in order to discourage jamming of their early warning system sounds likely.

Is it? If it is an early warning system, could it be jammed briefly so it would fail to warn, couldn't it? It will be a global disruption of GPS, but a brief one and I'm sure people wouldn't be concerned of it due to other news.

> Flexing the ability to jam GPS is pointless

Do you believe that cutting sea cables is a sensible action? Or sending drones to neighbors? It is what they call "hybrid asymmetric warfare", I'm not sure how it is supposed to work, but presumably it may let them take over the world or something.

Probably they just strive to normalize deviations, to boil frog slowly. When people become used to some stupid actions they widen their repertoire, until everything short of tanks crossing the borders became just normal news noise nobody reads twice.

	▲	smilespray 30 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		AKA Salami Tactics, famously referred to in the UK sitcom "Yes, Prime Minister" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salami_slicing_tactics

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rcxdude 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

There is definitely value in having a demonstrated as opposed a simply supposed capability, though. And actions that are 'almost-certainly-but-not-completely-provably-us' is very much something Russia likes to do.

(One question I would have about the comms theory is whether the amount of power being used would be reasonable for that use-case. Jamming tends to be much higher power than just communicating, but also GNSS signals are very low bandwidth as comms channels go)

	▲	ralferoo 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> One question I would have about the comms theory is whether the amount of power being used would be reasonable for that use-case. Jamming tends to be much higher power than just communicating, but also GNSS signals are very low bandwidth as comms channels go GPS is suprisingly low power. I believe the satellites themselves transmit between 20W and 50W, and in general the signal is quieter than the background noise threshold. It's only by correlating with the PRNG stream [1] that the data signal can be detected at all [2]. [1] The PRNG stream is 1023 bits at 1.023Mbps, so repeats every 1ms, and only autocorrelates with the correct stream when they are aligned. When the streams are not aligned, the data looks like random noise, and each transmitter has a different LFSR configuration to provide a different sequence such that each stream has a low level of correlation with another. [2] The PRNG stream bits at 1.023Mbps are exclusive-or'd with the data stream at 50bps, so when the decoder is using the correct PRNG and sequence offset, exclusive-or'ing with that produces detectable long pulses at the expected 50bps.

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throw0101a 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Flexing the ability to jam GPS is pointless, since it's obvious that any state actor who has military satellites in orbit has considered this option or have the capability already.

Forget "state actors", truck drivers have taken out entire airports with GPS jammers:

* https://www.cnet.com/culture/truck-driver-has-gps-jammer-acc...

People like the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation have been trying for years to get some kind of GNSS backup accepted:

* https://rntfnd.org

China has certainly put their money into resiliency (both navigation and timing):

* https://www.gpsworld.com/china-completes-national-eloran-net...

* https://rntfnd.org//2026/03/19/china-has-built-a-triad-of-sa...

* https://rntfnd.org/2023/11/28/china-eloran-used-for-critical...

Some folks are certainly cluing in: South Korea has (e)Loran and the UK and France are joining up with them:

* https://rntfnd.org/2025/04/30/the-uks-system-of-systems-appr...

* https://rntfnd.org/2025/11/12/s-korea-leads-meeting-with-u-k...

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mrngld 3 hours ago | parent [-]

The US still has a fairly robust network of VOR's / VOR with DME / VORTAC stations. Good for navigation, but there's no timing component, beyond what's inherent in how they operate.

Admittedly, that'll never be of use outside aviation as its line-of-sight only. But if the sun threw a Carrington event (or worse) at us, I think a lot of western aviation could carry on.

	▲	throw0101c 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> The US still has a fairly robust network of VOR's / VOR with DME / VORTAC stations. Good for navigation, but there's no timing component, beyond what's inherent in how they operate. Admittedly, that'll never be of use outside aviation […] I'm aware of the FAA's MON, Minimum Operating Network. Exactly: that doesn't help boats. Or people in cars. Or farmers: * https://www.deere.com/en/technology-products/precision-ag-te... It doesn't help those that use GNSS for precise timing (TCXOes can only 'free run' for a finite amount of time before drift compounds 'too much').

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Havoc 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Unless the actor happens to be a state that puts a great deal of emphasis on flexing & appearances regardless of how pointless it is

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Scroll_Swe 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

>Flexing the ability to jam GPS is pointless

No, Russia does these "tests" all the time to see and gauge the reactions. Ex flying just a bit into EU airspace.

https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/06/05/nato-fighters-interce...

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wcarss 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Or actual jamming mistargeted for some reason, or used because it was deemed necessary.

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alex_duf 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Repeatedly, over years, only for 2 to 5 seconds at a time? Seems unlikely

	▲	wcarss 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		yeah, I have to admit I was commenting on possibilities here without having gone into the article yet -- having now looked for real, I agree that the disruptions don't seem very useful for actual jamming and repeatedly like this for years across satellites and bands in this specific way doesn't make sense for some mistaken targeting either.
	▲	idiotsecant an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		There is a very good reason to do this. Suppose you had a device that would make the shoplifting detectors at stores go off. The first time you did it everyone would get hassled. And the second time and so forth. But if you kept doing it eventually the employees would stop caring. Then you just walk out the door with your stuff.