US likely jammed GPS signals off Venezuela coast, expert tells Sky News

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.

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.

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. Why might the US be carrying out GPS jamming? Dr Withington says it seems like the GPS disruption there is "defensive.