Iran’s GPS Jamming Has Turned Shipping Lanes Into A Minefield

In the Strait of Hormuz, hundreds of ships appear on maps where they should not exist. GPS signals that sailors and tankers rely on to navigate safely are being scrambled, revealing a new battlefield of invisible electronic warfare. What was once a tool for convenience has become a potential hazard, forcing the maritime industry to adapt or risk collisions in one of the world’s busiest oil corridors

What happens when hundreds of massive ships suddenly appear on land in the middle of a busy shipping lane? Near the Strait of Hormuz, that scenario is no longer hypothetical. “Oh my goodness,” said Michelle Wiese Bockmann, senior maritime intelligence analyst at maritime AI company Windward, as she watched live positions of commercial vessels.

“I’m up to… 35 different clusters,” she said, referring to strange, tight circles of ship icons over the water—and even over land—on her map of the region.

Ships do not normally bunch together in perfect circles or hover over land, where some of the clusters appear. GPS coordinates have been disrupted, masking the vessels’ true locations.

Wars are not only fought with bullets and bombs. Electromagnetic waves are also used. GPS jamming can cause major disruptions, hamper communications and increase the risk of accidents.

In recent years, GPS interference has affected aircraft in Europe, including a plane used by the President of the European Commission, and it has been a daily feature of the conflict in Ukraine. Now, electronic warfare is spreading to the Middle East.

Bockmann said the interference in the Strait of Hormuz is not the first time she has observed GPS jamming affecting vessels’ Automatic Identification Systems. It also occurred last year during a 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran and has affected navigators in the Baltic Sea. “This is next-level,” she said.

“We cannot over-estimate the huge danger this places to maritime navigation and safety,” Bockmann added. Pakistan’s National Hydrographic Office has also issued warnings about the interference.

Ships use AIS partly to avoid collisions. A 300-meter tanker carrying hundreds of thousands of tonnes of oil takes considerable time and distance to change course or stop. If the positions of other vessels cannot be reliably determined, the risk of accidents increases, particularly at night or in poor visibility.

“That’s the problem,” said Alan Woodward of the University of Surrey. “Not you knowing where you’re going – it’s not knowing where everybody else is going.”

There is no official confirmation of who is behind the jamming, but military analysts suspect Iran. The country has also threatened attacks on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

Global Navigation Satellite System or GPS jamming tools used by Iran are likely domestically produced or built with equipment sourced from Russia or China, said Thomas Withington, associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.

He also suggested that U.S. forces in the region are using jamming systems to protect bases, personnel and vessels from drones and GPS-guided weapons. When approached, the U.S. Department of War declined to comment on specific capabilities.

Sean Gorman, co-founder of tech company Zephr.xyz, has used a variety of techniques to detect GPS jamming. He previously studied interference in Ukraine using drones carrying smartphones to record GPS disruptions and triangulate jammer locations.

“I was just amazed at the level of jamming and how powerful it is,” Gorman said. Over the past few days, he has relied on satellite radar data to detect jamming in Iran.

Companies have developed technologies to mitigate GPS interference. Raytheon UK makes a device called Landshield, an anti-jam antenna system that can be installed on vehicles, aircraft and other platforms. “We’re seeing quite an increase in demand and capacity for our anti-jamming products at the moment,” said Alex Rose-Parfitt, engineering director of Raytheon UK.

Australia-based Advanced Navigation has developed systems that determine position using gyroscopes and accelerometers. Chris Shaw, co-founder and CEO, said the company can also use optical satellite imagery or even star-mapping to estimate location when GPS is unavailable.

“The image processing is very advanced,” Shaw said. “Doing something like star-mapping is very inexpensive.” He added that the methods are less accurate than GPS, which is why multiple forms of location analysis may be required.

Ramsey Faragher, director of the Royal Institute for Navigation, said GPS jamming in the waters off Iran increases the risk of maritime accidents and could accelerate the adoption of more secure alternatives. “Soon, we will look back on this era where we are using open GNSS signals and think, ‘God, we were mad, that was really not a smart move,’” he said.

Get the latest news and insights that are shaping the world. Subscribe to Impact Newswire to stay informed and be part of the global conversation.

Got a story to share? Pitch it to us at info@impactnews-wire.com and reach the right audience worldwide