GPS Is Vulnerable: Can Quantum Navigation Keep Ships and Aircraft Moving?

As satellite navigation faces growing interference from jamming and spoofing, researchers are exploring quantum sensors that could help aircraft, ships and critical infrastructure maintain their bearings without relying entirely on GPS. The technology is promising—but a practical, affordable replacement remains a work in progress.

GMS News | 12 October 2026

The Problem: What Happens When GPS Cannot Be Trusted?

GPS has become an essential part of modern life. It helps people navigate roads, enables ships to determine their positions, supports aircraft operations and provides precise timing for communications networks and other critical infrastructure.

However, satellite navigation has a fundamental weakness: the signals received from satellites are extremely faint by the time they reach Earth. This makes them vulnerable to interference.

Two threats are particularly important.

Jamming overwhelms or disrupts legitimate satellite signals, preventing a receiver from obtaining reliable navigation information.

Spoofing transmits misleading signals that can cause a receiver to calculate an incorrect position or accept false navigation information.

Both can create serious problems for systems that depend on reliable positioning, navigation and timing.

A report from the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), discussed by TechNewsWorld, highlights the risks that GPS interference poses to military operations, aviation, maritime transport and critical infrastructure.

The problem is not merely theoretical. TechNewsWorld reported that maritime intelligence company Windward recorded approximately 978,000 GPS-jamming events worldwide in the first quarter of 2026, with 98% concentrated in the Middle East Gulf. More than 1,100 vessels were affected in the region, according to the report.

These figures describe reported interference events and affected vessels—not 978,000 separate ships.

Source: TechNewsWorld — GPS Attacks Drive Search for Quantum Navigation Alternatives.

1. What Is Quantum Navigation?

Quantum navigation uses highly sensitive measurement technologies based on the behaviour of atoms and other quantum systems to help determine position, movement or time.

The important distinction is that this does not necessarily involve a quantum computer calculating a route.

Instead, researchers are developing quantum sensors that can measure physical properties with great precision. Depending on the design, these include acceleration, rotation, gravity and magnetic fields.

Why does that matter?

Earth has variations in its gravitational and magnetic fields. A sufficiently capable navigation system may compare measurements of these variations against reference maps to help estimate where a vehicle is located.

For example, a gravity-based system could measure subtle changes in gravitational acceleration and compare the results with a map of Earth's gravitational field. The resulting information can provide navigation clues even when satellite signals are unavailable.

Other approaches involve quantum accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers and highly precise clocks. Each addresses a different part of the positioning, navigation and timing problem.

The broader objective is to give navigation systems additional sources of trustworthy information rather than leaving them dependent on a single vulnerable signal.

Source: CNAS — Atomic Advantage: Accelerating Quantum Sensing for Next-Generation Positioning, Navigation, and Timing.

2. A Maritime Demonstration Shows the Potential

One development highlighted by TechNewsWorld involves Q-CTRL, a company working on quantum-sensing technologies.

Its Ironstone Opal system uses a gravity-based approach known as GravNav. The technology measures variations in Earth's gravitational field and compares those measurements with gravity maps to estimate position without depending on GPS signals.

Q-CTRL reported that its system achieved positioning accuracy of one nautical mile during a maritime field trial in the Coral Sea off Australia's east coast.

One nautical mile is approximately 1.852 kilometres.

That result is a reported demonstration under particular trial conditions. It should not be interpreted as evidence that all quantum navigation systems can achieve this performance in every environment or that conventional GPS has already been replaced.

Nevertheless, the trial illustrates an important possibility: a vessel may be able to obtain useful positioning information from physical measurements of its surroundings rather than continuously relying on satellite navigation.

The potential applications extend to ships, aircraft and other platforms that may need navigation resilience in environments where satellite signals are disrupted.

Source: Q-CTRL — GPS-Free Quantum Gravimetric Navigation Demonstration.

3. Why Not Replace GPS Immediately?

If quantum sensors offer such promising capabilities, why are conventional GPS receivers still so widely used?

The answer lies in engineering, reliability and cost.

Size and portability: Some experimental quantum sensors remain bulky and require specialised optical components, vacuum systems or other supporting equipment. Vehicles need devices that can operate reliably within their available space and power budgets.

Vibration and motion: Gravity-based measurements are difficult to interpret on moving platforms because vehicle acceleration and vibration can interfere with the measurements. A system must distinguish genuine variations in Earth's gravity from disturbances caused by its own movement.

Cost: Conventional GPS receivers are inexpensive and widely available. Quantum navigation equipment must deliver enough additional value to justify its cost, especially in commercial markets with tight margins.

Long-term reliability: Laboratory performance is not the same as dependable operation aboard a ship or aircraft over extended periods. Sensors must work in changing temperatures, vibration, motion and other demanding conditions.

These limitations mean that quantum navigation is best understood as an emerging technology that could strengthen navigation resilience—not a universal, ready-to-install replacement for GPS.

4. The More Likely Future: Multiple Navigation Systems Working Together

The future of navigation may not involve choosing between GPS and quantum technology.

Instead, it may involve combining several sources of information.

A navigation platform could use satellite signals when they are reliable, inertial sensors to estimate movement, and alternative measurements or signals to check its position when GPS becomes unreliable.

Quantum sensors could contribute to this wider system by supplying precise measurements of motion, gravity, magnetism or time. Other technologies may also contribute, depending on the application.

Such redundancy matters because a system with several independent sources of information may be better equipped to detect errors and continue operating when one source fails.

For shipping, this could support navigation in areas affected by interference. For aviation, resilient positioning and timing could provide an additional safeguard. For critical infrastructure, dependable timing and positioning can support reliable operations.

These are potential benefits, not guarantees. Each application requires testing, integration and appropriate safety procedures.

5. Quantum Navigation Is Different From Quantum Computing

The distinction deserves attention because the terms are often used interchangeably in discussions about the quantum revolution.

Quantum computing uses quantum systems to perform computations and may eventually accelerate certain classes of calculations.

Quantum sensing uses quantum properties to measure physical quantities with exceptional sensitivity or precision.

Quantum sensing is the more direct technology behind the navigation developments discussed here.

The distinction also has investment and research implications. The CNAS report notes that quantum computing has attracted a much larger share of private investment than quantum sensing in the United States, despite the latter's potential applications in positioning, navigation and timing.

That raises a wider question about how public research funding and private investment are allocated between long-term computing ambitions and technologies that may address existing infrastructure vulnerabilities.

GMS News Perspective: Navigation Needs More Than One Source of Truth

GPS remains a cornerstone of global navigation. But growing interference has made one issue increasingly clear: critical systems should not assume that a single source of positioning information will always remain available and trustworthy.

Quantum sensing offers a promising route toward stronger navigation resilience. Maritime demonstrations suggest that some systems are moving beyond laboratory research, while significant obstacles remain in size, cost, durability and accuracy across real-world operating conditions.

The most realistic near-term direction is not a world without GPS. It is a world in which GPS works alongside additional technologies that help detect interference, verify positioning information and maintain operations when satellite signals cannot be trusted.

The real breakthrough may not be replacing GPS. It may be making navigation less dependent on any single system.

Sources & Further Reading

1. TechNewsWorld — GPS Attacks Drive Search for Quantum Navigation Alternatives

2. Center for a New American Security — Atomic Advantage

3. Q-CTRL — GPS-Free Quantum Gravimetric Navigation Demonstration

4. Quantum Sensors for Enhanced Positioning and Navigation — GPS Solutions

Editorial note: This article is based on reports and research available as of 12 October 2026. The described demonstration is a company-reported result, and the broader technology remains under development. This article is for news and informational purposes.

GMS News — Information. Context. Perspective.

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