Recently the United States bombed Syria
The National Broadcasting Corporation reported that, according to the statement of four US officials, the Russian military has disrupted US military drones that conduct combat missions in Syrian airspace, severely affecting US military operations.
Authorities said that a few weeks ago, after a series of chemical weapons attacks against civilians in the armed opposition zone of East Gutta, the Russians began to interfere with a few small American drones. Officials said the Russian military was concerned the US military would retaliate against the attack and start interfering with the global positioning system used by drones operating in the region.
Republican Senator Ben Sasse reacted on Tuesday to reports of interference with Russia: “Russia wants to undermine our interests all the time.”
He said: “Those who think that Russia is not an enemy are crazy.”
According to Dr. Todd Humphries, director of the Radio Navigation Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin, blocking or preventing drones from receiving signals from GPS satellites doesn’t have to be complicated.
He said: “Most GPS drone receivers can be very easily disturbed.”
Humphreys, an expert on GPS spoofing and jamming, has warned that it could have a major impact on drones in the United States, causing them to malfunction or even crash. He said that if the drone reports an incorrect position or is lost, “at least it can create confusion for unattended ground operators.”
According to Dr Humphries, four years ago, after the invasion of Crimea, US analysts first discovered in eastern Ukraine that Russian troops were interfering with drones. These GPS jammer “have had a significant impact on unmanned aerial vehicles deployed by the United Nations to carry out surveillance missions in the region.” The crew stopped for several days and were unable to collect information by air.
Pentagon spokesman Eric Paquin of the US Department of Defense will not stand up if such interference leads to drone crashes and has stressed that US military drones are currently operating safely. “The United States military has sufficient countermeasures and protective measures to ensure the safety of our unmanned and manned aircraft, our troops and the tasks they support.”
However, an official confirmed that such interference had an impact on US military operations in Syria.