Access to the GPS signal has become one of the major challenges of electronic warfare between units on the battlefield. It allows not only to find one's way in space, but also to collaborate precisely with other units, an essential fact as multi-domain engagement is essential at the heart of modern military action. On the other hand, the extraordinary potential offered by the precision of the GPS signal has created, over time, a real dependence of modern military units upon receipt.
Very early on, Russian forces understood that by preventing Western forces from accessing this GPS signal, they could profoundly deteriorate their operational effectiveness. Not only will units have greater difficulty moving and positioning themselves, but they will not be able to collaborate as precisely with supporting units, such as artillery or aviation.
In addition, many precision weapon systems rely on this same signal to strike their targets. They then simultaneously developed powerful mobile jammers to saturate the frequency bands used by GPS satellites, and prevent onboard receivers from determining their position, as well as “Spoofing” systems which, by introducing a signal carrying erroneous time information on GPS frequencies, alter the ability of receivers to determine their position precisely, leading to a form of “drift” of several kilometers in the positioning information.
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