How China can use GPS against us — a disaster waiting to happen

China has developed multiple ways to avoid using a global positioning system — if it needs to — in the event it launches an attack on the West’s systems.

Using a combination of Cold War-era technology and advanced GPS methodology, China — in conjunction with other American adversaries — has insulated itself from attacks on its systems in order to achieve an operational edge for its most crucial technologies.

‘The United States and a lot of our Western allies are kind of uniquely vulnerable right now.’

GPS provides the required background for telecommunications networks, electric grids, banking systems, and also mass transport. In addition, it guides precision munitions and military equipment, while providing conventional navigation for the average person in their car or smartphone.

Aiden Buzzetti, president of the pro-America nonprofit Bull Moose Project, told Return in an exclusive interview that the United States is out in the open in terms of a potential GPS-related attack.

“We know that the Russians jam GPS … in the Baltics, the commercial flights in Sweden and Finland, and that general region will run into issues because of GPS interference by the Russians,” Buzzetti told Return. “The North Koreans do it, too. Basically all of the the main adversaries of the United States in some way or another practice GPS jamming. Whether it’s Iran going after bases … it’s a pretty consistent theme across the board.”

Because of this ongoing threat, China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia have all built a layer of protection surrounding their use of GPS.

“The United States and a lot of our Western allies are kind of uniquely vulnerable right now,” Buzzetti explained. “We rely a lot on the satellite signals, but in their own countries, they’ve been using some older technologies, some Cold War-era technologies and then newer terrestrial technologies to make sure that they’re not vulnerable to the same kind of attacks that we are.”

The technology Buzzetti is referring to ranges from unique and seemingly outdated to complex and futuristic.

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Aiden Buzzetti, president of the Bull Moose Project

In a report about securing the U.S. 5G network and GPS infrastructure, Bull Moose wrote that enemies of the state have been hard at work “future-proofing” their positioning, navigation, and timing capabilities.

The same countries have engaged in “navigation warfare,” the document alleges, but have continuously implemented the following systems to give themselves a decisive strategic edge in electronic warfare:

Loran-C radio navigation network

This radio navigation system, first implemented in the 1950s, uses a receiver to determine its position by listening to low-frequency radio signals transmitted by radio beacons.

Operating at 100 kHz, China has continued its ongoing usage and integrated its systems with South Korea’s and Russia’s to create the regional Far East Radio Navigation Service, established in 1989.

Simply put, Loran-C is an old radio system that ships and planes use to calculate distance through the help of signals from radio towers.

Inertial navigation systems/quantum positioning

These systems use motion sensor and a computer to continuously calculate position based off a previously determined fixed point. In quantum positioning for example, gyroscopes and accelerometers are used to determine velocity and orientation without the use of external signals, unlike a GPS.

Gyroscopes measure angular velocity, while an accelerator measures the proper acceleration of an object, meaning how fast an object is speeding up or slowing down.

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A cell tower for 5G network among buildings is pictured on January 1, 2021 in Qingdao, Shandong Province of China. Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images

LEO satellites

In addition to these methods, China has significantly increased its use of low-Earth orbit satellites, launching dozens at a time as recently as this summer, along with launches dating back to 2024.

The result is now a network of LEO satellites that provides faster communication (internet), surveillance capabilities, and support for GPS systems that are much harder to jam than medium Earth orbit GPS signals.

Essentially, they could be considered China’s version of Starlink.

“China is ensuring that no single point of failure can knock out its navigation capabilities,” Buzzetti said, adding that if the United States does not work to shore up its systems, it could be vulnerable to attacks that take down entire categories of essential infrastructure. Because China has been diligent in ensuring it does not rely on GPS, he suggested, the United States should re-examine the companies that lobby and work within the United States on communications projects and, where necessary, abandon them.

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