GPS Jamming in Contested Waters Demands an All-Source Operational Maritime Picture

GPS Jamming Has Become Routine in Contested Waters Operations in degraded environments are no longer a planning scenario. For anyone responsible for a maritime operational picture, they are already the operating condition in much of the water European navies patrol.

GPS jamming touched 124,235 distinct vessels worldwide in Q3 2026, up 11.7% on the previous quarter, according to Windward’s Q3 2026 maritime risk report. September was the busiest month of the year, and the Black Sea alone accounted for 30% of the jamming Windward observes worldwide.

GPS Jamming Is an Area Problem, and It Changes What Every Vessel Reports GPS jamming is an area-level event.

Interference degrades satellite navigation signals across a zone, and every receiver inside it is affected, whatever the ship and whoever owns it. Because a vessel’s AIS position comes from its own satellite navigation receiver, every ship in that zone can end up broadcasting a position that is wrong.

This story was originally published by Hellenic Shipping News. Read the full story at Hellenic Shipping News →