GPS jamming and spoofing are driving the search for alternative navigation technologies that could keep aircraft, ships, and critical infrastructure operating when satellite signals are disrupted.
A report by the Center for New American Security (CNAS) warns that GPS's reliance on weak satellite signals leaves it vulnerable to jamming, spoofing, and attacks on the satellites themselves.
"GPS interference already undermines military operations and disrupts up to thousands of commercial flights daily," noted the report written by CNAS Fellow Constanza M. Vidal Bustamante.
The problem has become particularly acute at sea. According to maritime intelligence company Windward , GPS jamming affected more than 18,300 vessels globally during the second half of 2025.
In the first quarter of 2026, Windward recorded approximately 978,000 GPS jamming events worldwide, with 98% concentrated in the Middle East Gulf. More than 1,100 vessels were affected in the region.
Windward described the first-quarter total as the largest single-quarter concentration of maritime GPS jamming events it had ever recorded.
Shaun Moore, CEO and co-founder of Tern , a developer of non-GPS navigation systems in Austin, Texas, pointed out that GPS has become an invisible infrastructure for the modern world.
"Transportation, emergency response, agriculture, logistics, communications, critical infrastructure and military operations all depend on it, and a NIST-sponsored study estimated that a widespread GPS outage could cost the U.S. economy roughly $1 billion per day," he told TechNewsWorld.
"At the same time," he continued, "autonomy, robotics and physical AI are demanding positioning that is more continuous, precise and trusted than ever before."
"GPS is not going away," he conceded, "but something this critical cannot be a single point of dependency. We need independent ways to determine and maintain position."
"GPS is ubiquitous but vulnerable," added Michael Biercuk, CEO and founder of Q-CTRL , a global developer of quantum-sensing systems.
"While the technology delivers extraordinary capabilities by relying on tiny signals received from satellites," he told TechNewsWorld, "the simple reality is that it’s exceptionally easy for these signals to become corrupted — either because of the environment in which you’re working, such as underwater, or because of deliberate action."
Biercuk explained that deliberate GPS interference has become a weapon of strategic and economic sabotage. "From war zones like the Persian Gulf to Eastern Europe, GPS disruption is now rampant," he said.
"More than 1,000 flights are affected by GPS interference each day, causing operational disruptions, increased costs, and even concerns over flight safety," he added. "New solutions that provide a resilient backup are desperately needed."
Biercuk's company recently demonstrated its Ironstone Opal quantum-assured navigation system in the Coral Sea off Australia's east coast. Q-CTRL reported that the system achieved positioning accuracy of one nautical mile without relying on GPS during the maritime trial.
Ironstone Opal uses a quantum navigation technique known as GravNav to measure subtle variations in Earth's gravitational field, effectively detecting invisible hills and valleys in the planet's gravity. By comparing those measurements with gravity maps, the system can determine its position without relying on GPS signals.
Q-CTRL says the technology is designed for use on land, at s…