Electronic warfare has taken an unexpected turn in the Ukrainian conflict. A new system developed by Kyiv is capable of deceiving Russian missiles by altering their navigation coordinates using fake GPS signals. The projectiles receive erroneous information and believe they are flying over countries like Peru, diverting towards unpopulated areas to minimize damage to critical infrastructure.
How the GPS decoy that confuses missiles works 🛰️
The system emits fake navigation signals that are picked up by the receivers of missiles in flight. By processing this data, the projectiles calculate an erroneous position, as if they were flying over Peruvian territory instead of Ukrainian. This causes the guidance systems to correct the trajectory towards empty areas. The technology is cheap and easy to implement, as it only requires low-power transmitters and software for generating fake coordinates.
Russian missiles eager to travel to South America ✈️
Now it turns out that Russian missiles, instead of hitting military targets, prefer to go on international tourism. Thanks to this invention, a projectile can wake up thinking it is flying over Kyiv and end up calculating a route to Machu Picchu. The worst part for Moscow is that its expensive rockets end up crashing into sunflower fields or in the middle of nowhere, while Ukraine saves in damages what it invests in these small electronic deceptions.