• Defensive jamming, spoofing disrupt services amid Iranian threats
• Tactics endanger civilian infrastructure, aviation, shipping

DUBAI: Accurate GPS is a mainstay of modern life, but because of the Iran war, people in the UAE are finding their phones placing them at sea or in cities hundreds of kilometres away.

Jamming and spoofing, used as a defensive tactic against missiles and drones, are to blame, experts say, but it’s not just enemy projectiles finding themselves lost in the UAE.

“I was using maps while driving until it started taking me through weird roads,” said Hind, a French resident of Dubai.

Despite the occasional inconvenience, the bizarre information given by GPS services, such as delivery drivers floating somewhere in the middle of the Gulf, has become the subject of jokes on social media.

Andrew, a delivery driver from Uganda working in Dubai, said delays are common. “A delivery that should take 10 to 15 minutes ended up taking 30. The GPS would show a direction, then freeze and keep rerouting.”

‘Defensive measures’

Clayton Swope, an aerospace security expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said the disruption was likely aimed at countering Iranian drones and missiles that rely on GPS for targeting.

He said two main methods are used: jamming, which blocks GPS signals, and spoofing, which sends false signals that mislead navigation systems. Both can disrupt GPS-guided weapons.

Satellite navigation systems like GPS work by receiving timing signals from multiple satellites to determine __cpLocation. Because these signals are weak, they can be easily blocked by stronger local transmissions.

Lisa Dyer, director of the Global Positioning System Innovation Alliance said electronic warfare dates back to the Second World War and can provide strategic and tactical advantages. However, she warned that such disruption poses risks to aviation, shipping and other infrastructure.

Half of ships affected

The Middle East has also been affected, with GPS signals as far away as Cyprus disrupted by spoofing and jamming during the Gaza war and other recent conflicts involving Israel.

Since the current war began, up to 1,000 ships in the Gulf and Gulf of Oman have experienced satellite navigation jamming, according to Kpler analyst Dmitris Ampatzidis — around half the vessels in the area, mostly off the UAE and Oman.

Experts say shipping is especially vulnerable because ships rely on a single, older and weaker GPS band. Some vessels have also been spoofed, making large oil tankers appear deep on land inside the UAE or Iran.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2026