GPS overlap raises the risk of accidents in the Strait of Hormuz

On the night of June 15, the oil tanker near the Strait of Hormuz, the front eagle that was dumped to Liberian, transported many of the impossible location signals, and it seems repeatedly tens of miles jumped in a moment.

Early the next morning, he collided with another tanker, which exploded to fire.

The cause of the accident is still unclear, but the clear eagle movements are clear near the Iran -controlled strait, experts agree to a sign of the intervention of the global positioning system, a tool for modern war that increases the danger of severity Accidents.

The front eagle was not the only ship affected by overlap, which started yet Israel attacked Iran Last week. Ship tracking data and aircraft showed hundreds of ships that appear to travel above the ground or spin in circles collectively in the seas around the strait.

The joint marine information center, a multinational initiative to advise ships in the Middle East, said that the “extremist” overlap stems from the Iranian port of Arbas and the recommended ships with radar or video photos.

The UK maritime trade operations said it had received multiple reports on interference in the navigation signals in the Gulf, warning against having a “great impact” on ships.

“The ships that appear in the airports, go in perfect circles, with hundreds of ships overcrowded directly over each other (and) are all specific signs on Earth” from the intervention of mobility, “said Oli Palinger, a researcher at the University of College in London who is studying the geographical location of the ships.

The Financial Times analysis of the reported locations in the ships appears at least 170 at least by overlapping within one window for two hours on Tuesday morning.

Since Israel has launched its widespread attack against Iranian targets last week, the energy analysts raised fears that the conflict could affect traffic through the strait, through which about a third of the oil supplies transported by the sea in the world travel every day.

The front of the front eagle belongs to Frontline, the largest oil tanker company listed in the world. Fricline CEO He said FT on Friday that it no longer accepts new contracts to enter the Gulf through the Strait of Hermoz due to increased risk.

The Iranian regime has historically threatened to prevent the Strait of Hormuz in the event of the attack of the country, but it does not seem to have taken a measure until the alleged jamming.

Tehran targeted ships in the strait during the Iranian war in the 1980s, and was recently accused of attacks on the tankers near the strait in 2019. He was not completely able to prevent traffic.

In the aftermath of the collision on Monday, the Coast Guard saved the Arab Emirates 24 people from the front eagle, while Frontline said that its crew was not harmful and that the “navigation accident” was not linked to the “current regional conflict.”

“There is nothing indicating any external interference,” said Frontline, a FRONTLINE spokesman.

GPS is implemented by sending a strong radio signal that prohibits satellite satellite signals by the global satellite systems for navigation. Instead, the so -called “SpooFers” mimics real but misleading signals.

Experts, including Sall Merkogliano, a naval historian at Campbell University in North Carolina and Mariner, said that the GPS has played a role in the accident, especially given that the front eagle that turned at the last minute to the ship and then collided with it, a raw oil carrier called Adalynn.

Mercoliano suggested that GPS overlap may affect the migration pilot mobility.

He said, referring to the automatic definition system, a system of tracing ships based on the global GPS (“

Todd Humphrez, an expert in GPS overlapping at the University of Texas in Austin, said: “In a narrow strait like hormonal, it is only a slight push of doctors to pay ships out of the track dangerously,” said Todd Humphrez, an expert in GPS overlap at the University of Texas in Austin.

“It is possible that navigation systems” do not return to normal “after they have been diluted or disturbed, and can continue to show wrong data, as well as the risk of accidents.

GPS overlap has become a large -scale tactical in modern conflicts, with hot points including Ukraine, BalTics, Israel and the Pakistani border in India, although it is often difficult to follow the exact origin of the confusion ring.

Thomas Mansten, an electronic warfare expert at the Royal United Institute of Services, said that interference in the Strait of Hormuz was likely to return to Iran, which may aim to protect its facilities and infrastructure from attacks and monitoring by drones and guided missiles.

But the signals concerned are so strong that the Civil GPS receptors in ships, aircraft and even mobile phones “are always caught.”

“It is very irresponsible. … This is the way the accidents will occur. If people depend on GNSS alone for the sake of movement, and that this service is either jammed or transmitting wrong information, the situation becomes very dangerous.”

Additional reports from Chris Cook