NATO plans portable jammers that could blank GPS for 11 kilometres
NATO wants six portable kits that can disrupt satellite navigation and drone links across controlled areas as wide as 11 kilometres.
NATO is preparing to buy six portable electronic-warfare kits capable of disrupting satellite navigation and drone communications across an adjustable area stretching from 500 metres to 11 kilometres, according to an official procurement notice. 1
The planned equipment is intended primarily for exercises and training. NATO's Allied Command Transformation says the kits would let crews practise operating when satellite signals and drone links are unavailable, rather than discovering those problems for the first time during a real operation. The notice says the systems could also be used in operations, which gives the procurement a significance beyond a conventional classroom simulator. 1
What NATO wants the kits to do
The requirements cover all four major satellite-navigation constellations: America's GPS, Russia's GLONASS, Europe's Galileo and China's BeiDou. The kits must be able to target multiple frequency bands at the same time, with each band selectable independently. Operators would be able to define the size of the denied area in steps of no more than 500 metres. 1
That range matters. A 500-metre training bubble could be used for a tightly controlled exercise, while an 11-kilometre radius would create a much broader test of how ships, aircraft and ground teams cope when navigation disappears. NATO also wants suppliers to provide predicted effects at altitudes up to 10,000 feet, allowing planners to keep the interference away from civilian aviation. 1
The same systems are expected to interfere with drone control and video links. The notice specifies coverage for several radio bands, including 400–500 MHz, 2–3 GHz and 5–6 GHz. In practical terms, that could interrupt a drone's control signal, cut its video feed or force it to hover, land or return home, depending on how the aircraft is designed. The procurement is therefore aimed at the wider electronic battlespace rather than GPS alone. 1
Portable hardware, serious constraints
NATO wants each kit to be portable enough for one or two people to carry and deployable within 30 minutes. It should work from a ship, rigid inflatable boat, uncrewed surface vessel, vehicle, tripod or fixed ground position. The listed requirements also include at least four hours of battery operation, omnidirectional and directional antennas, and control from a laptop that a non-specialist can use. 1
Remote operation is part of the specification too. The kits must be controllable over encrypted satellite links, with a local override and a remote shutdown. That combination points to a system designed for exercises in difficult locations, where the operator may not be standing beside the transmitter and where an interference zone must be switched off quickly if it threatens nearby users.
TechRadar reports that NATO plans to issue its request for proposals on October 26, with bids due on November 30 and a fixed-price contract expected on December 11. 2 Those dates describe a procurement timetable, not a confirmed delivery schedule. NATO has not yet announced a winning supplier or said when the six kits will enter service.
Why this matters now
The notice places the purchase against years of satellite-navigation interference around the Baltic region, where aircraft and ships have reported disruption blamed by several European governments on Russia. Jamming and spoofing are different problems: jamming overwhelms a legitimate signal, while spoofing attempts to make a receiver accept a false position. Both can undermine navigation, but spoofing is harder to recognise because the equipment may appear to be receiving a plausible signal.
A controlled jammer cannot reproduce every battlefield condition, but it can give crews a repeatable way to practise detecting interference, reporting it and switching to alternatives. That is especially relevant as drones become more common in reconnaissance, logistics and combat roles, and as their operators depend on several links at once.
The hero image is an illustrative Pexels photograph of a radar dish, not a picture of one of NATO's planned kits. It is credited to Magda Ehlers. 3
Our opinion
This is a sensible training purchase, provided NATO keeps the boundary between rehearsal and real-world use genuinely controlled. The most important detail is not the headline range; it is the demand for altitude-impact predictions, local override and remote shutdown. Those safeguards acknowledge that a portable jammer can interfere with civilian aviation and shipping as easily as it can support a military exercise.
The procurement also shows how quickly electronic warfare has moved from specialist background concern to routine operational planning. Six kits will not solve GNSS vulnerability, and they will not make every drone controllable or stoppable. They will, however, give NATO crews a practical way to rehearse the moment when the map, the aircraft and the drone controller all stop agreeing with reality.