Naval Officer Leaks Aircraft Carrier Location On Strava With Deck Runs
Posting a morning run on Strava is a habitual routine for some people. However, not everyone engaging in that ritual could endanger a $6 billion nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. A French naval officer revealed the location of the Charles de Gaulle, the flagship of the Marine Nationale, by publicly posting a run via smartwatch to the popular app last week. The 4.5-mile run around one of the carrier decks stands out as a jagged line in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.
The Charles de Gaulle's position was more sensitive than usual because it was the lead ship in a carrier strike group steaming across the Mediterranean toward the Middle East. According to Le Monde, French President Emmanuel Macron deployed ships to bolster the country's military presence in the region after Israel and the United States attacked Iran. While France did announce that the carrier was being repositioned away from NATO exercises in the Baltic Sea, posting the ship's real-time location posed an unnecessary security risk during an ongoing conflict. French military bases have already been attacked by drones and one service member was killed.
French sailors just have to get their runs in despite the rules
The French Armed Forces stated the report incident didn't comply with current personnel guidelines. I can't imagine any military allowing its officers or enlisted members to post their locations on social media while on deployment. Despite the statement, Le Monde noted that other sailors have revealed the ship's location on Strava. The newspaper was able to confirm that it was the de Gaulle by cross-referencing the geo-location data with recent satellite imagery, which revealed the carrier's silhouette.
This isn't the only way that GPS can be exploited for military purposes. In 2024, Russia was caught interfering with aircraft GPS systems with jammers placed in the country's exclave of Kaliningrad. Over 46,000 planes reported GPS issues. The form of interference could cause the flight crew to believe they are somewhere else, at a different altitude, or even flying at a different speed. It's a dangerous geopolitical tactic intended to sow chaos and potentially provoke an international incident.