Russian satellites are jamming GPS signals, study says

While sifting through data collected from GPS monitoring stations, a team of researchers noticed a mysterious pattern. Over the past seven years, the team has documented 75 days where there was a sudden drop in signal strength that occurred simultaneously across Europe. A thorough investigation traced the interference to a small constellation of Russian satellites that may have been intentionally jamming GPS signals.

A recent investigation led by Todd Humphries of the University of Texas at Austin found that the Russian satellite Kosmos 2546 may have been used to jam GPS signals on a continental scale as part of planned operations. Although the target of signal jamming is still unclear, the findings may have larger implications for electronic warfare in global conflicts. The findings have not yet been peer-reviewed, but the researchers have submitted the paper for review to NAVIGATION, the journal of the Institute of Navigation.

Only during business hours

The team behind the paper examined publicly available data collected from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) ground tracking stations. From January 2019 to April 2026, researchers found 75 cases of such disturbances over a wide area.

All receivers experienced a sudden drop in signal at the same time. The disturbances lasted less than 10 seconds each and covered areas from Spain and Poland all the way to Canada. This indicates that the jamming cannot have been caused by a ground system, but rather must have come from space.

The short bursts also occurred within a narrow swath of frequencies centered on 1577.5 megahertz, corresponding to the portion of the spectrum used by the GPS satellite constellation and its European counterpart GNSS.

The sudden signal drop also happened on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday during business hours, suggesting it was part of a planned operation rather than an inadvertent intervention.

Finding the culprit

Using the data they collected, the researchers calculated that the source must be at least 745 miles (1,200 kilometers) above Earth’s surface. They then began looking for which satellites at that altitude were over the affected areas during the disturbance periods.

The team narrowed it down to a handful of putative satellites. After refining their search, the orbit of just one satellite lined up perfectly with jamming events across the continent. Kosmos 2546 is part of a constellation of Russian military early warning satellites used to detect ballistic missile launches. At least one of the constellation’s satellites was above the horizon during each recorded signal disturbance, according to the paper.

The paper suggests that the signal jamming events were tests while shielding the system itself from detection. One clue is that the signal is slightly offset from the GPS frequency. « If you’re going to test this capability, then test it near the signal you intend to jam, but not exactly on that signal, » Humphreys told Veritasium in an interview. « And you only test it briefly to make sure everything still works. »

These tests, while mostly harmless for now, could have much more harmful consequences. « In a possible future when there’s a hot conflict, they go ahead and tune their transmitter to the GPS range, but now it’s much more damaging when it’s lying right on that range, » Humphreys added.

Another hint that GPS jamming is part of targeted tests is that researchers found a second interference targeting a lower frequency that coincidentally overlapped with signals from China’s BeiDou navigation system.

« I can no longer say it’s accidental with confidence, » Humphreys said during the interview. « I’m leaning towards it being a periodic test of an ability that would be very damaging if deployed in anger. »