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What’s new: An opinion piece in Aviation Week about using eLoran as resilient PNT for aviation.
Why it’s important: Aviation seems to be the industry most impacted by jamming and spoofing at the moment, especially unmanned aviation. We have heard reliable reports that both Ukraine and Russia are using eLoran for timing and some drones.
What else to know:
- As is mentioned in the article, before the advent of GPS, ICAO listed Loran as an aviation system in Annex 10. In fact, in the 1970’s the FAA funded construction of additional Loran transmitter sites in the interior of the U.S. to enable general aviation to use it from coast to coast.
- Dr. Okuary Osechas is a researcher at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) and chairs two EUROCAE standardization groups, including Performance Based Navigation.
Opinion: An Expeditious Solution To GPS Interference: Restoring eLoran To Aviation
September 30, 2026
A recent Aviation Week podcast underscored the world’s biggest aviation safety concern—GPS interference.
This is a full-fledged threat to global aviation, increasing workload and reducing safety margins for pilots and controllers. It has already caused accidents and fatalities and was a factor in the loss of a medical aircraft in New Mexico this year. On Christmas Day 2024, it led to the death of 38 on an Azerbaijan Air flight.
The aviation community has not agreed on any one solution. This inability to settle on a single backup or complement is, arguably, a testament to the genius behind GPS.
Two challenges remain: reaching many users at small capital expenditure and accurate timing at scale. Timing is essential to radionavigation.
