Battlefield GPS Failures Mount: Air Force Commits $49.7M to Navigation Alternatives

Battlefield GPS Failures Mount as the U.S. Air Force funds navigation alternatives with a $49.684 million contract aimed at replacing dependence on GPS in contested environments. On July 6, the Air Force Research Laboratory awarded Canyon Consulting LLC a contract for maturing alternative satellite navigation technologies, to be carried out in El Segundo, California, and running through October 2031. The effort reflects a shift in doctrine following evidence that GPS has been operationally unreliable in combat since 2022, when Russia used electronic warfare to jam and spoof signals affecting Ukrainian navigation. The article cites jamming events attributed to Russia, including an incident in March 2024 that disrupted more than 1,600 aircraft over Eastern Europe within two days. It also notes reported scale increases in jamming and spoofing incidents in conflict zones, as well as GPS interference affecting aviation users. The plan highlights quantum inertial systems and LEO constellations, which the article says have already shown superiority in GPS-denied flight tests.