Prepare for Disaster: A Resolution for 2024 |
Posted: January 3, 2024 |
Over the Christmas holidays, Western infrastructure encountered its latest enigmatic breakdown. Regardless of the potential culprits involved, it is of utmost importance for democracies to swiftly assimilate the valuable lessons derived from this incident. The majority of Europe experienced a brief period of calm and merriment on Christmas Day, only to be swiftly interrupted. On the second day of Christmas, an unexplained malfunction struck the GPS satellite positioning system, causing disruption in the Baltic Sea region.
The exact individuals responsible may never be definitively identified, but the evidence strongly suggests Russian involvement. In the fall of 2023, three data and energy links located on the Baltic seabed were targeted, with Russian and Chinese vessels coincidentally positioned directly above the sites. It later emerged that a Chinese ship had inadvertently severed a gas pipeline by dragging an anchor across it. Finnish sources attributed another attack to Russia. Regardless of the context, the Boxing Day gridlock serves as a testament to the fact that aggression can manifest itself unexpectedly, at any given time, and utilizing any available means. Pilots, aviation enthusiasts, and users of websites like GPSjam.com were quick to notice the extensive GPS phone jamming that affected Southern Sweden, Northeastern Germany, and large parts of Poland on December 26. On an average day, the GPS interference map of Europe west of Russia showcases an abundance of green shades, denoting a negligible level of GPS interference ranging from 0% to 2%. In rare instances, a few yellow dots appear, indicating a slightly higher interference level of 2% to 10%.Nonetheless, on December 26th, a vast region spanning from Växjö in the north to Stralsund and Neubrandenburg in the west, Lódz in the south, and Bialystok in the east exhibited a red shade, denoting a GPS interference level exceeding 10%. Although previous instances of GPS wifi jamming had impacted northern Europe (including northern Norway and Finland), this event proved to be the most severe by a significant margin. The presence of GPS jamming significantly complicates the task of finding one's way for users of Google Maps, Apple Maps, and other location services, as the correspondence between provided directions and actual reality becomes uncertain. GPS signal jamming not only creates inconvenience for the general public, but it also presents a significant nuisance for pilots who heavily rely on GPS for navigation and landing purposes. However, it is important to note that pilots undergo extensive training to manually land their aircraft in the event of GPS jamming, ensuring that the possibility of them landing on a non-existent runway is eliminated.
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