Putin's Secret Weapon Is Disrupting NATO Countries' Airline, Maritime GPS Signals (msn.com)The next move for
Russia in the fight against
Ukraine could involve jamming.
Knewz.com has learned about new technology with the potential to confuse
missiles and
drones aimed at
Moscow. But it also could cause problems for air travel.
It’s called “Tobol,” according to anonymous Western intelligence sources. It reportedly looks like a satellite dish but transmits signals instead of receiving them.
Estonian military commander Gen. Martin Harem says the technology already is affecting air and sea travel in countries which border Russia, including his country and
Finland.
Nearby nations such as
Lithuania and
Poland also have reported disruptions.
So has Sweden. Newsweek quoted Lt. Col. Joakim Paasikivi as saying the jamming difficulty there is due to “Russian influence activities or so-called hybrid warfare.”
"What we have seen is a malfunctioning of GPS,” Harem told The Mirror tabloid in Britain. “We really do not know if they want to achieve something or just practice and test their equipment.” Russian GPS jamming reportedly is disrupting air travel in some countries. So has
Sweden.
Newsweek quoted Lt. Col. Joakim Paasikivi as saying the jamming difficulty there is due to “Russian influence activities or so-called hybrid warfare.Jamming of radio signals has been common since the days of the Cold War. The old Soviet Union did it to block
Radio Free Europe broadcasts from reaching beyond the “Iron Curtain.”
Tobol reportedly works by sending signals on the same frequency that satellites use for guiding vehicles.
“I think, ostensibly, it’s defensive," electronics expert Dr. Thomas Withington with the Royal United Services Institute said. But he doesn’t think it’s right, even if Russia and Ukraine are at war.
“It’s… degrading the safety of navigation,” Withington
told The Daily Telegraph. He noted many jets and ships have alternate means of ensuring they’re going in the right direction.
The larger concern is what Putin might do if he chooses a larger war against
NATO countries.
A scenario prepared by
Germany’s military suggests the
Kremlin could start an invasion of western Europe in a mixture of ways. Harem sees Tobol as a tool for doing that, through “electronic warfare.”
“They have nothing to lose,” Harem said. “First they exercise, then they test us and then they attempt to cause some mistrust towards governments or toward NATO.”
“Nobody should behave like this, especially when you’re at war with a neighboring country,” Harem said.
Russia reportedly began testing Tobol’s capabilities in April 2023. An intelligence report given to
The Washington Post the Russians tried to interrupt
Starlink transmissions in Ukraine.
More recently, an official with Finland’s Traficom transport agency reported “disturbances in the Baltic Sea,” and even in the Middle East not far from
Israel.
Russia reportedly has seven Tobol complexes. One may be in Kaliningrad, a region President
Vladimir Putin recently visited.