North Korea launches new GPS jammers
According to South Korea's Chosun Ilbo, North Korea has independently developed jammers for the Global Positioning System (GPS) and plans to export them to Middle Eastern countries. South Korea has just decided to introduce the GPS-guided JASSM joint air-to-ground standoff missile made in the United States, and less than a month later, North Korea has launched a powerful countermeasure. The main missiles equipped by the US and South Korean armies rely on GPS guidance, so they are worried that North Korea's jamming equipment will make precision-guided weapons "blind."
Missile accuracy is interfered with
The report said that the South Korean and US militaries are most worried that in the event of a war, North Korea will use this global positioning system jammer in a concentrated manner, reducing the accuracy of most precision-guided missiles and bombs. The Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) widely used by the US military in the Iraq War and the Afghanistan War all rely on GPS guidance. Long-range air-to-ground weapons such as the US Tomahawk cruise missile are also guided by GPS.
North Korea plans to export jamming equipment
South Korean government sources revealed that GPS tracking signal jammers developed by North Korea are being exported to the Middle East, especially to countries such as Iran and Syria. North Korea's jamming equipment is cheaper than similar Russian products, which is a headache for the US military. In the 2003 Iraq War, the Iraqi army used Russian-made GPS blocking devices to successfully induce multiple US missiles to deviate from their course. This time, North Korea has mastered the production technology of GPS tracker scramblers, which may make it possible to equip them on a large scale.
US military responds to GPS signal jamming
The United States has control over GPS, and the US military is its most important user. In the Iraq War, 80% of the precision-guided weapons used by the US military were GPS-guided. The United States has always been worried that foreign countries will interfere with GPS signals and reduce the accuracy of weapons. Jamming signals may interfere with and shield GPS signals at different stages of missile flight. The United States once demonstrated a jammer that can interfere with GPS receivers within a radius of 16 kilometers.
New generation of GPS system anti-interference
Faced with more and more countries mastering GPS jamming technology, the United States has begun to develop a new generation of GPS systems. The new system's anti-interference capability will be 100-500 times higher than the existing system and will use the most advanced encryption technology. The US military plans to launch 24 new satellites in 20 years to replace the existing 24 old satellites. Lockheed Martin also announced the development of a new generation of receivers with strong anti-interference capabilities and automatic anti-spoofing mode.