Three Norwegian firms win ESA deals to keep ships and drones on course under jamming

On 27 October at Spaceport Norway in Oslo, ESA signed three contracts with Norwegian companies to protect satellite navigation from jamming and spoofing: a library of real interference recordings, ship sensors and drone navigation.

All three are funded through NAVISP, ESA’s Navigation Innovation and Support Programme, following a call for projects supported by the Norwegian Space Agency. Jamming means drowning out the faint satellite signal with noise. Spoofing means broadcasting a fake signal so a receiver calculates a wrong position. Both fall under GNSS interference, where GNSS (global navigation satellite systems) covers GPS, Galileo and similar systems.

A library of real jamming, recorded in the open air

Testnor, based in Tromsø, will build the Signal Data Library. It will hold recordings of real interference, plus radio-frequency playbacks that let a company replay an attack on its own equipment. The first data comes from Jammertest, Norway’s annual open-air exercise in which jamming and spoofing are deliberately transmitted. Testnor coordinates it, and ESA describes it as the world’s largest event of its kind.

The aim is a market-ready service. A company could then test how its receiver behaves against genuine attacks without waiting for the next Jammertest, and without relying on simulations alone.

Ships that keep a trusted position when GNSS fails

Norse Navigation, in Trondheim, will develop maritime positioning sensors for merchant vessels that fall under SOLAS, the international Safety of Life at Sea rules, and for professional maritime users. The project will combine several satellite constellations with Galileo’s OSNMA, a service that digitally signs navigation messages so a receiver can check they are genuine. It adds jamming and spoofing detection, a controlled degraded mode and alerts compatible with a ship’s bridge systems.

ESA points to a recent report from the Royal Institute of Navigation showing the maritime sector is badly affected by interference.

Cheap drones with ten minutes of backup

In Sandnes, Rift Dynamics will work on low-cost, expendable unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that must operate where GNSS is disturbed. Comrod is a subcontractor. The system will be tried against jamming and spoofing in the Arctic. The target is 10 minutes of reliable operation without GNSS, followed by a robust recovery once the signal returns.

What a lost signal costs, and who feels it first

Norway has put a price on the risk. A government socio-economic analysis released earlier this year estimated that a seven-day loss of satellite-based positioning, navigation and timing services could cost about NOK 3.4 billion (EUR 320 million), according to Kristian Svartveit of the Norwegian Space Agency. A Norwegian Defence Research Establishment report has also stressed the importance of such services for the country’s total defence.

The harm is not limited to the far north. At the NAVISP Industry Days in Rome last week, Ramsey Faragher, Director of the Royal Institute of Navigation, said that 60% of vehicle thefts in London involve GNSS jammers, according to ESA’s report of the event. The same report says several ESA Member States raised concerns earlier in 2026 about interference and maritime safety, citing an open letter from coastal states around the Baltic Sea, North Sea and Iceland.

Ships, drones and car owners rely on the same weak signals from orbit, so a fix for one sector often helps the others. ESA’s David Phillips told the Rome audience: “Resilience comes from diversity.” Options discussed there included inertial sensors, which track motion without any outside signal, the eLoran radio backup and 5G-based positioning.

The system itself is also being strengthened. ESA has just ordered four more Galileo Second Generation satellites, taking that fleet to 16, with the first launch planned for 2028, as we reported on the order. They will join 38 First Generation satellites, all but four of which have already launched, according to ESA.

Why Norway is a natural testing ground

Rafael Lucas Rodriguez, ESA’s Head of NAVISP, pointed to Norway’s contribution to many ESA programmes and its specialist skill in high-precision positioning. The country also hosts Galileo infrastructure in Svalbard, Troll and Jan Mayen. Few places combine a large annual jamming exercise, Arctic conditions that stress receivers and a maritime economy that depends on navigation every day.

NAVISP, created in 2016 and supported by 20 states, aims to reduce the commercial risk of developing new navigation products. ESA did not give contract values for the three Norwegian projects.