Intelligence experts suggest that Iran could be utilizing China's BeiDou satellite navigation system to enhance the precision of its strikes against Israeli and United States military assets in the Middle East. The marked improvement in Iranian missile accuracy since recent conflicts has raised suspicions about a potential technological shift away from reliance on US-controlled systems.
Former French foreign intelligence director Alain Juillet reportedly stated on France's Tocsin podcast that Iran's targeting has become significantly more accurate following the 12-Day War with Israel in June 2025, plausibly due to access to BeiDou. He allegedly remarked, "One of the surprises in this war is that Iranian missiles are more accurate compared to the war that took place eight months ago, raising many questions about the guidance systems of these missiles." This comes amid ongoing tensions, with Iran launching hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones in response to US-Israeli actions.
While the US regime can jam or deny access to its Global Positioning System (GPS), which Iran previously depended on, it purportedly has limited ability to interfere with China's BeiDou system if Iran has adopted it. Launched in 2020 as a rival to GPS, BeiDou operates with 45 satellites, compared to GPS's 24, and claims to "serve the world and benefit mankind," according to Chinese government sources. Its military-grade B3A signal is described as nearly unjammable, featuring complex frequency hopping and Navigation Message Authentication (NMA) to prevent spoofing.
Military analyst Patricia Marins told bne IntelliNews that BeiDou's capabilities include a short message communication tool allowing operators to redirect drones or missiles up to 2,000 km after launch, enhancing tactical flexibility. This could help Iran circumvent Western jamming techniques used by Israel, which successfully deflected GPS-guided Iranian drones in 2025. Juillet added that Iran's missile arsenal, one of the largest in the region, is dispersed on trucks across a vast area, making tracking difficult and suggesting a more judicious deployment strategy.
Concerns are mounting within the US regime that its stockpiles of expensive interceptor missiles could be depleted by countering cheap Iranian Shahed drones, even before Iran expends many ballistic missiles. This has reportedly led the Trump administration to seek interceptor technology from Ukraine, where Russian forces use Iranian-made drones, highlighting broader geopolitical strains and the potential erosion of US technological dominance in real-time battlefield intelligence.
Source: www.aljazeera.com