Lt. Gen Douglas Schiess, S4S commander and Combined Joint Force Space Component Commander speaks at the Joint Navigation Warfare Center 20th Anniversary celebration, Oct. 23, on Kirtland Air Force Base. Schiess spoke on the evolving reliance on global position systems in modern warfare and in the great power competition. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Airman 1st Class Donnell Schroeter/USAF
By Senior Airman Ruben Garibay
377th Air Base Wing
KIRTLAND AFB – The Joint Navigation Warfare Center, headquartered at Kirtland Air Force Base, held a ceremony for its 20th anniversary, Oct. 23. The ceremony recognized JNWC’s contribution to the joint fight and its ability to assess global space operations in order to deliver combat relevant space effects by ensuring military assets that use GPS can withstand any adversary attacks like jamming and spoofing to the system for the United States and its allies.
“America’s potential adversaries, terrorist organizations, even drug smugglers crossing our boarders leverage tools that can deny you access to the GPS signal. Finding yourself in this situation will result in the GPS in your car not working. The ATM won’t spit out dollar bills. Your cellphone becomes useless,” JNWC Director Robert Hoffman said. “This is also true for the tools our warfighters use – fighter aircraft, submarines, command posts, even tanks on the battlefield. All warfighting systems today use the GPS signal.”
For the past 20 years, JNWC has taken lead on identifying and patching any vulnerabilities in equipment that uses GPS. It provides a combination of space, cyberspace and electronic warfare employment for U.S. Space Command through the U.S. Space Forces – Space by assessing offensive and defensive navigation warfare operational capabilities in contested environments. This helps ensure the U.S. military is able to withstand attacks and continue operations.
“GPS continues to be a foundation for America’s military and its society, with thousands of military systems depending on navigation satellites to move and communicate,” said Lt. Gen Douglas Schiess, S4S commander and Combined Joint Force Space Component Commander. “Strategic competition between great powers has significantly shifted in recent years. Space is no longer operating in a benign environment. Our adversaries are moving quickly and are vying for dominance. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022, we saw an unprecedented scale of navigation warfare. The invasion is the largest NAVWAR confrontation ever seen to date, which is forcing us to rethink GPS systems and how we are going to adapt to those pacing threats.”
From Albuquerque, JNWC not only provides the main threat assessments for the U.S. military, it also provides situational awareness for commercial usage of GPS to help the civil sector protect itself against any adversary meddling.
Modern life is built on GPS. From banking to driving to weather, farming, and logistics, GPS touches every American, and JNWC is here to make sure those services continue.