Windward has detected extensive GPS jamming in a new location at the eastern Russian port of Nakhodka, leading to a 30% rise in deliberate interference to ships’ navigation signals across the region over August.
Between August 5-18 the Automatic Identification Signals (AIS) of 112 ships were transmitted on land at Nadhodkta port, the first time GPS jamming was noted in this area.
The GPS jamming occurred across the bay from the Transneft export terminal at Kozmino, where crude is exported from the Eastern Siberia Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline.
This marks the third major Russian oil hub to be hit by deliberate signal interference, with similar GPS jamming disruptions noted for protracted periods in the Baltic Sea around Ust Luga and Primorisk, as well as Novorossiysk in the Black Sea.
Significant interference with tanker AIS signals linked to GNSS manipulation was already seen around Kozmino before GPS jamming was detected at Nadhokta.
GPS jamming, which blocks ships’ AIS satellite signals, is a common tactic attributed to greyzone aggression to obscure maritime activity but is also a significant navigation hazard.
The tactic is different to GNSS manipulation, also known as spoofing, in which ships falsify their real AIS location in order to…