Beyond GPS: How LEO satellites are changing the game in naval navigation
Xona Space Systems’ platform drastically reduces the effective range of jammers compared with MEO options. (Photo: Xona Space Systems)
Satellite navigation is increasingly critical for global maritime defence, and Low Earth Orbit satellites are rapidly overtaking the traditional and more widely used Medium Earth Orbit option as they are less susceptible to jamming or spoofing.
“We’re seeing our satellites being jammed by the Russians on a reasonably persistent basis,” Maj Gen Paul Tedman, head of UK Space Command, told the BBC during an interview earlier this month. It happens “weekly”, he explained. A few weeks earlier, Germany’s defence minister Boris Pistorius warned that Russia and China now have the capability to “disrupt, blind, manipulate or kinetically destroy” satellites.
For governments and civilians living near Russia, this is disruptive. For navies, it’s mission critical. Ships at sea rely on precise satellite timing for navigation, communications, weapon guidance and autonomous operations. One glitch and the mission fails.
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