Cyber spoofing began as a defensive tactic against drones – a way to disable spacecraft by feeding them false data via powerful radio signals. But as recent India–Pakistan clashes have shown, it has evolved into a formidable weapon, with consequences that extend far beyond the battlefield.
In this guest column, Swetha Sarath, Chief Business Officer of Ciber Digita Consultants, explores how GPS spoofing has taken centre stage in modern warfare – and why urgent technological upgrades are needed to counter this growing threat.
Drones and aircrafts rely on GPS to navigate their way towards their destination and tampering with it sabotages their missions. (AI image: by Vilius Kukanauskas/Pixabay)
By Swetha Sarath, on June 03, 2025
By Swetha Sarath, on June 03, 2025
It didn’t take a missile strike or a tank column to create confusion in the skies over Ukraine, or over Punjab. Just a few invisible signals – precisely timed, cleverly manipulated – were enough to upend entire air corridors, misguide enemy drones, and even scramble commercial aircraft systems.
Welcome to the era of GPS spoofing – the digital equivalent of deploying a decoy army, except this one exists only in the electromagnetic spectrum. A few years ago, such tactics belonged in Cold War spy novels or experimental labs. Today, they are rewriting the rules of engagement in modern conflict zones from Eastern Europe to South Asia.
At its core, GPS spoofing hijacks trust. It works by broadcasting counterfeit signals that mimic those from real satellites – only louder. GPS receivers, built to lock onto the strongest signal, are deceived into believing the fake ones are legitimate.
Spoofers manipulate signal strength, timing, and Doppler shift to deliver a convincing lie: false coordinates, fake velocity, even forged time stamps. Some attackers record and replay real satellite signals (“meaconing”), while others generate entire constellations of spoofed data from scratch. The result? Systems believe they’re in Paris when they’re over Punjab.
To counter this, militaries and critical industries are deploying tools like Controlled Reception Pattern Antennas (CRPAs) that reject rogue signals, hybrid GPS-inertial systems that double-check satellite data with onboard motion sensors, and cryptographically protected signals like the US military’s M-code.
Civilian sectors are starting to follow suit, turning to multi-GNSS verification, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations with stronger signals, and even a revival of celestial navigation.
Unlike jamming – which simply blocks GPS signals and screams “you’re under attack” – spoofing is far more cunning. It feeds GPS receivers fake information, deceiving both machines and their human operators into thinking all is normal. Think of it as replacing road signs on a battlefield with identical-looking ones that lead your enemy into an ambush.
In places like Ukraine, this tactic has become a staple of the electronic warfare playbook. Since late 2023, GPS spoofing incidents around the Black Sea and across Eastern Europe have surged by 500 percent. Military drones, relying on civilian GPS signals to keep costs low, have been routinely hijacked or rerouted.
Ukrainian forces have reportedly redirected Russian loitering munitions – including Iranian-made Shahed drones – mid-air, sending them crashing or veering into Belarusian territory. Russia, in turn, has adapted. Its newer drones now use encrypted communications or piggyback on Telegram bots through mobile networks, bypassing GPS entirely.
This isn’t just a game of cat and mouse; it’s a relentless loop of tech leapfrogging.
While missiles draw red lines on maps, GPS spoofing blurs them. India’s airspace knows this all too well. Between November 2023 and February 2025, over 465 spoofing incidents were recorded near its borders with Pakistan and Myanmar.
Flights in and out of Amritsar and Jammu were fed false coordinates. At the same time, Border Security Forces intercepted nearly 300 drones crossing over from Pakistan, many loaded with drugs, arms, and fake currency.
What’s clear is that spoofing isn’t operating in isolation. It’s part of a larger grey-zone warfare strategy, where electronic deception pairs seamlessly with physical incursions. You jam the signals, mislead the radar, then slip the drone in – and all without crossing the line into overt military aggression.
The consequences aren’t confined to military manoeuvering. In today’s aviation industry, GPS isn’t just a navigation tool – it’s the nervous system. It guides everything from autopilot systems to terrain warnings, air traffic control communications, and even the aircraft’s internal clock.
A single spoofed signal can trigger cascading failures across dozens of systems. Pilots have reported false alerts, “phantom” terrain warnings at cruising altitude, and inexplicable shifts in location data.
As GPS spoofing increases, especially in conflict-adjacent zones like the Eastern Mediterranean, so does the risk to civilian lives. In one telling survey, 70 percent of pilots rated their concern about GPS spoofing as “very high” or “extreme”. Unlike conventional threats, you can’t see this one coming on a radar screen.
Part of the danger lies in how accessible spoofing technology has become. What once required specialised hardware can now be built using off-the-shelf components and open-source software. Software-Defined Radios (SDRs) costing just a few hundred dollars can mimic GPS signals convincingly enough to fool everything from a surveillance drone to a commercial airliner.
And while Western militaries may have encrypted M-code signals to shield them, the majority of the world – civilian sectors, developing militaries, even domestic airlines – are still flying blind, dependent on unencrypted, easily spoofed signals.
The growing threat is forcing a global rethink of how navigation should work. No longer can militaries and civilians alike afford to put all their trust in a single, low-power, space-based signal. From controlled reception antennas that reject spoofed signals to inertial navigation systems that work independently of satellites, multiple lines of defence are being rapidly adopted.
Some are going back to basics: celestial navigation, once the realm of sextants and stargazing sailors, is making a comeback in navies and air forces. Others are embracing innovation: MagNav (magnetic navigation) systems read Earth’s magnetic crust for positioning, while LEO satellite constellations like the US-based Xona Space Systems’ Pulsar that promise stronger signals that are harder to spoof.
Meanwhile, both Ukraine and Russia are racing ahead with software-defined warfare. The US and allies are deploying Assured PNT (Positioning, Navigation, and Timing) systems, pairing GPS with alternate signals and machine learning to detect spoofing in real time. It’s not just about having a backup – it’s about building trust in data again.
The electromagnetic spectrum has become the newest, most unpredictable front line. GPS spoofing shows that warfare today is as much about perception as firepower. If you can’t trust your position, you can’t aim. If you can’t aim, you can’t win.
As spoofing tactics evolve and proliferate, they’re not just undermining military operations but threatening to throw global aviation, financial systems, logistics and emergency response networks into chaos. And in a world where wars are no longer neatly declared, that kind of chaos can be as effective as any missile.
In this invisible war, whoever controls the signal, controls the battlefield.
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More than a moonshot
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A sharp solution for onion cutters
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