Electronic warfare helps rogue ships avoid US sanctions, Israeli tech firm execs claim

Commercial vessels operated by rogue shipping companies and by countries that face sanctions by the United States are reportedly using military-grade electronic warfare (EW) systems to conceal their real locations, two senior executives of an Israel-based technology firm recently claimed.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Matan Peled and Dror Salzman, Co-Founder and Risk Product Manager, respectively, of Tel Aviv-based maritime AI company Windward, discussed a new global navigation satellite system (GNSS) manipulation technique, where ships use EW systems as a means of avoiding detection while conducting illicit activities.

Windward said that, in January, at the time of the AP interview, the number of unique GNSS manipulation events flagged by its platform was around 350. Just a few weeks later, the number of flagged events had risen to 390.

Windward’s proprietary system operates by detecting digital tracks that do not reflect actual vessel movements. Anomalies under this category that are often detected by the system include hairpin turns made by ships while sailing at high speeds.

Peled said the EW technology has been around for decades in the defence sector but was only recently adopted by commercial shipping operators wishing to evade sanctions.

Other patterns of deception that the system has identified include falsifying of flag states and constant changes in ownership made within relatively brief periods of time.