Iran abandons American GPS. He relies on the Chinese BeiDou

Tense relations with the US and bad experiences with the American GPS navigation system, which was repeatedly jammed last year, forced Iran to transfer its critical infrastructure, including military systems, to the competitive Chinese BeiDou, completely cutting itself off from Western technologies.

According to the DefenseSecurityAsia website, for Tehran this transition means a significant improvement in its resistance to electronic warfare, to which it fell victim during last year's 12-day war with Israel. Then, GPS jamming, aimed at the guidance systems of Iran's drones and missiles, disrupted the operation of almost a thousand civilian ships and planes, pushing the country into an economic crisis.

Formally, Iran turned off the GPS signal in the middle of last year and by the end of it had completely switched to the Chinese system, joining 120 countries that decided that this would limit Western influence.

In operation since 2020, BeiDou is primarily used in Africa, where over 30 countries use it, including Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia. This system is considered superior to GPS, which was confirmed by the US Government Advisory Council on GPS in 2023, admitting that “the capabilities of GPS are currently significantly inferior to those of the Chinese BeiDou.” (PAP)

thebe/kar/