High levels of GPS jamming detected off the coast of Venezuela were likely being carried out by the US, an expert has told Sky News.
Disruption to navigation signals has been picked up around Trinidad and Tobago, where a US warship had been stationed amid escalating tensions in the region.
“Looking at the map it’s hard to say who else it could be,” electronic warfare expert Dr Thomas Withington told Sky News.
Sky News has contacted the US Department of Defence for comment but has not received a response.
It comes as the USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier – the largest warship in the world – moves closer to Venezuela after being ordered to deploy to the Caribbean.
Meanwhile, US secretary of war (the department formerly known as defence) Pete Hegseth announced another lethal strike on what the Trump administration claims are drug trafficking boats.
News has also emerged that a Russian cargo plane operated by a sanctioned airline touched down in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, late last month.
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GPS jamming detected
Heavy signals disruption has been detected not far off the coast of Venezuela, according to the open-source website GPSJam, which tracks instances of GPS interference around the world.
It appears to be centred around Trinidad and Tobago and emerged around the time the USS Gravely guided missile destroyer arrived there in late October. It is not usual for disruption to be seen in that part of the world.
Use the slider below to see the emergence of disruption between October 26 and November 3.
Jamming can overwhelm an aircraft’s GPS navigation systems, preventing them from working properly, leaving pilots to rely on other ways of finding out where they are.
Western leaders blame Russia for its widespread use in eastern Europe, with the EU accusing Moscow of jamming the plane of its chief Ursula von der Leyen.
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Read more:
Who is messing with GPS signals in Europe?
Questions raised by alleged GPS jamming of EU chief’s flight
Disruption off Venezuela’s coast was minor at first but levels increased over the following days, showing up in red on the map, indicating higher amounts.
Jamming was detected up until and including November 3, but the latest data for Tuesday, November 4, appears to show that the jamming stopped.
“Looking at the map it’s hard to say who else it could be,” says Dr Withington, an expert on electronic warfare at the RUSI thinktank.
He argues that there aren’t many militaries in that part of the world who would have the capability to disrupt GPS signals in such a widespread way.
“In absence of certainty, it would seem the evidence is suggesting it’s the US military interests in the region,” he said.
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Why might the US be carrying out GPS jamming?
Dr Withington says it seems like the GPS disruption there is “defensive”, with the US possibly concerned about the use of drones.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s counter-drone systems that are in their ships,” he added.
He says the US may be worried about the risk of Venezuelan drones being used to gather intelligence or the potential for kamikaze attacks on US warships.
“I can’t say for certain… but if you think about what the Russians have been using, if you think about what the Iranians have – the stuff is out there and it is available from Venezuela’s allies.”
Both Russia and Iran have increasingly used drones to harass or attack their enemies in recent years, with explosive Shaheds proving a deadly problem in Ukraine.
“If there’s any military action involving the US and Venezuela, the Russians are probably relatively limited in what they can do,” Dr Withington added.
“That doesn’t stop them at least trying to give some sort of material support.”
In that case, the Americans are likely not taking any chances, he said.
Russian cargo plane stops in Venezuela
According to FlightRadar data, an Ilyushin Il-76TD cargo plane landed in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, on October 29.
It was operated by Aviacon Zitotrans, a Russian airline sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2023, which said it has “handled cargo shipments for sanctioned Russian Federation defence entities”.
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Meanwhile, Russian MP Alexei Zhuravlyov said the US “may be in for some surprises” as he hinted at a possible weapons transfer to Venezuela in comments published by a Russian news site over the weekend.
“I see no obstacles to supplying a friendly country with new developments such as the Oreshnik or, let’s say, the well-proven Kalibr missiles,” Mr Zhuravlyov told Gazeta.Ru.
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Trump says Maduro’s days are numbered
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has accused President Trump of seeking regime change and of “fabricating a new eternal war” against his country, and he appealed to the American people for peace.
President Trump has justified the strikes by saying the US is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels, and claiming the boats are operated by foreign terror organisations. He has not provided evidence.
During an interview aired on CBS’s 60 Minutes show on Sunday, the US leader was asked if America was going to war with Venezuela. He replied: “I doubt it. I don’t think so. But they’ve been treating us very badly, not only on drugs.”
Asked if President Maduro’s days were numbered, he said: “I would say yeah. I think so, yeah.”
