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GPS has been getting better over time. The newest iteration of the system supports a directional spot beam for military users with +20dB gain for theater-level

GPS has been getting better over time. The newest iteration of the system supports a directional spot beam for military users with +20dB gain for theater-level jamming resistance. A +20dB gain means that the jammer is going to need roughly 100x its current power output to maintain the same effectiveness. An adversary ramping their transmitter by this much would turn into a blazing hot target in terms of electronic warfare. There are entire classes of weapons designed to lock directly onto signals like this. The AGM-88 is an example.

ACCount37 1y ago
A part of why GPS is such a weak point is that existing receivers out there are pretty basic. Including receivers in things like JDAMs and other PGKs. This is even worse in Ukraine, where a lot of "precision munitions" are cobbled together from civilian parts and duct tape, jammers are cheap and plentiful, and anti-radiation missiles are unicorns.
- halJordan 1y ago
  Thats a problem for the Ukrainians, not the Pentagon. As far as jdams (some of) the ones in ukr have "home-on-jam" capabilities so no harm needed.
  - ACCount37 1y ago
    You fucking wish it was just a problem for the Ukrainians. If US ever gets into a serious near-peer war, the Pentagon may have to resort to doing the same thing Ukraine does. Mass produce inferior but easy-to-scale weapons to address the growing munition shortages. The Pentagon understands this. This is why moves are made in that direction.
- ponector 1y ago
  >> precision munitions" are cobbled together from civilian parts and duct tape Like the M982 Excalibur by Raytheon which is pretty much useless now in Ukraine.
  - ACCount37 1y ago
    Not as affected as it could have been, as long as it can fall back to IMU and magnetometer data. It travels too fast. Now, does it have a semi-reliable IMU fallback? GPS jamming/spoofing detection, an IMU that survives the conditions? Classified. Best case, you can partially un-fuck the performance with just a software fix.
    - bob1029 1y ago
      > an IMU that survives the conditions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibre-optic_gyroscope https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibre-optic_gyroscope
    - ponector 1y ago
      >>> reports revealed the Excalibur shell strike success dropped from 55% to 6% last summer 6% sounds not effective at all. Especially considering a price tag, which is x30+ of regular shell.

ACCount37 1y ago

A part of why GPS is such a weak point is that existing receivers out there are pretty basic. Including receivers in things like JDAMs and other PGKs. This is even worse in Ukraine, where a lot of "precision munitions" are cobbled together from civilian parts and duct tape, jammers are cheap and plentiful, and anti-radiation missiles are unicorns.

halJordan 1y ago
Thats a problem for the Ukrainians, not the Pentagon. As far as jdams (some of) the ones in ukr have "home-on-jam" capabilities so no harm needed.
- ACCount37 1y ago
  You fucking wish it was just a problem for the Ukrainians. If US ever gets into a serious near-peer war, the Pentagon may have to resort to doing the same thing Ukraine does. Mass produce inferior but easy-to-scale weapons to address the growing munition shortages. The Pentagon understands this. This is why moves are made in that direction.
ponector 1y ago
>> precision munitions" are cobbled together from civilian parts and duct tape Like the M982 Excalibur by Raytheon which is pretty much useless now in Ukraine.
- ACCount37 1y ago
  Not as affected as it could have been, as long as it can fall back to IMU and magnetometer data. It travels too fast. Now, does it have a semi-reliable IMU fallback? GPS jamming/spoofing detection, an IMU that survives the conditions? Classified. Best case, you can partially un-fuck the performance with just a software fix.
  - bob1029 1y ago
    > an IMU that survives the conditions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibre-optic_gyroscope https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibre-optic_gyroscope
  - ponector 1y ago
    >>> reports revealed the Excalibur shell strike success dropped from 55% to 6% last summer 6% sounds not effective at all. Especially considering a price tag, which is x30+ of regular shell.