ULA isn’t making the Space Force’s GPS interference problem any easier

DENVER—The Global Positioning System is one of the few space programs that touches almost every human life, and those responsible for the satellite navigation network are eager to equip the fleet with the latest and greatest spacecraft.

The U.S. Space Force owns and operates the GPS constellation, which provides civil and military-grade positioning, navigation and timing signals to cell phones, airliners, warships, precision munitions and more.

One reason for launching GPS satellites regularly is simply “constellation resupply,” said Col. Andrew Menschner, deputy commander of the Space Force’s Space Systems Command. Old satellites degrade and die, and new ones must rise and replace them. At least 24 GPS satellites are needed to provide global coverage, and having additional satellites in the fleet can improve navigation accuracy. Today, 31 GPS satellites are in operational service and fly more than 20,000 kilometers above the Earth.

Another motivation is to replace older active GPS satellites, some of which have been in space since the late 1990s, with newer satellites better suited to the modern world. Since 2005, the Army has deployed GPS spacecraft with additional civilian signals for aviation and interoperability with European Galileo navigation satellites. At the same time, the military introduced a new military-grade signal called M-code, designed for war.

M-code is more resistant to jamming, and its encryption makes it more difficult to spoof, a type of attack that tricks receivers into trusting fake navigation signals rather than real ones. The upgrade also allows the military to deny an adversary access to GPS during a conflict, while retaining the ability for U.S. and allied forces to use M-code.

Interference with navigation signals is increasing, particularly in the Middle East, the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as around Russia and Ukraine. U.S. officials attribute much of this interference to Russia, as its military struggles to defend against drone attacks.