Air combat without GPS
Ukrainian pilots hit back at Putin’s fighter jet tactics
Updated on May 15, 2026 – 2:56 p.mReading time: 3 minutes
Russian jammers paralyze GPS tracking. Ukrainian fighter jets are also affected. Now Zelensky’s army is fighting back.
They have been observing this phenomenon on the Baltic Sea for a long time. Jammers interrupt navigation with the GPS satellite system and give ships an incorrect position. The freighter “Meghna Princess” ran aground in the eastern Baltic Sea after a navigation attack. Nobody was injured. But the danger is real. Not just in shipping.
GPS signals are also increasingly being disrupted in aviation. Ukrainian fighter jet pilots are training to navigate without the GPS positioning system at secret bases in Great Britain. It is “really important” to learn early “to fly at low altitudes without full GPS support,” Business Insider magazine quoted a Ukrainian pilot as saying.
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The British Inspector General Sir Richard Knighton leaves no doubt about the current situation caused by Russian head of state Vladimir Putin. “The threat is growing. Putin is fighting in Ukraine, learning, developing new technologies,” said the British military in an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” on Friday.
In Ukraine they experience the Russian threat potential every day. Jammers are also increasingly being used, and not just against drones. Military air traffic is also increasingly affected. “Electronic warfare dominates the battlefield in Ukraine, with both sides jamming signals and affecting navigation, communications and weapons control systems,” according to Business Insider.
Sometimes the signal traffic with the GPS satellite in space is superimposed by a jamming transmitter, so that positioning is not possible: experts speak of jamming. Sometimes the jammer simulates false satellite signals, which lead to incorrect positioning: then experts talk about spoofing. Both are dangerous.
That is why the Ukrainian Air Force is undergoing special training in visual flight in Great Britain. British Air Force Chief Harvey Smyth told Business Insider about the special training program: “This is about laying the foundation from which they will move forward.”
Various alternatives from radio to visual flight
Mike Vallillo from the US defense company Honeywell recently explained in the magazine “Flugrevue”: “Means for alternative navigation have become more important due to the war in Ukraine.”
There are several alternatives to the GPS navigation system, such as:
