The US Navy’s Next Generation gps jammer, promises a new, more capable electronic warfare system that combines agile, high-power beam-jamming techniques and state-of-the-art solid-state electronics.
But while manned aircraft can usually fight back against signal jamming, and pilots in a cockpit can always use their own judgment if communications or navigation is lost, jamming could pose a serious threat to the US Navy’s drones, as there’s no one in the cockpit, according to Lamrani.The low power that GPS signals arrives to the receivers allows the power of the jammer to be effective even at very low power levels, making interference in GPS relatively simple and inexpensive to carry out. Various jamming methods are available in the market, being possible to find very efficient ones for $ 1,000.00, which are capable of delivering at least 100 watts (Rrol 2003).
Although the Growler will now be the inaugural platform to carry the NGJ, the new jammer had originally been envisioned for integration with the F-35 Lighting II, but the concept proved to be more costly and difficult to achieve than had first been anticipated. Never-the-less, it remains highly likely that the idea will be revisited once the NGL comes into service and further work done to enable it to be carried internally by F-35 variants, as well as developing the system to be fitted as a modular unit to other aircraft types.
The Russians began jamming some smaller U.S. drones several weeks ago, the officials said, after a series of suspected chemical weapons attacks on civilians in rebel-held eastern Ghouta. The Russian military was concerned the U.S. military would retaliate for the attacks and began jamming the GPS systems of drones operating in the area, the officials explained.
Jamming, which means blocking or scrambling a drone’s reception of a signal from a GPS satellite, can be uncomplicated, according to Dr. Todd Humphreys, the director of the Radionavigation Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin.
Four US officials told NBC News that Moscow was concerned that the US would retaliate for the attacks in rebel-held eastern Ghouta, so it began jamming the GPS systems of some smaller drones. “GPS receivers in most drones can be fairly easily jammed,” said Humphreys, who warned that jammed drones may malfunction and even crash.