Tensions in the Baltic region have escalated as aircrafts, including those carrying civilian passengers, experienced disruptions to GPS signals, casting suspicion on Russia for the interference.
The consistent pattern of GPS signal issues has led many to attribute the disturbances to Russian activities, especially since the jamming is concentrated around Russia’s strategic military area, the Kaliningrad exclave. “We have seen an increase in GPS jamming since the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine, and allies have publicly warned that Russia has been behind GPS jamming,” one of the articles stated, indicating a broader geopolitical context to these events.
The jamming has been described as a direct attack by Dana Goward, president of the U.S.-based Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation. “Russia is regularly attacking the aircraft, passengers, and sovereign territory of NATO countries,” Goward said. This sentiment is substantiated by reported rises in GPS outages. According to Eurocontrol, “During the first two months of 2024, EVAIR recorded high increases in GPS outages reports.”
Among the most notable disruptions was the jamming of the signals of an aircraft carrying the UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps. “Russia is suspected of jamming the signals of a military plane carrying UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps,” one report detailed. This incident took place near Kaliningrad and, while it did not threaten the safety of the aircraft, it did raise concerns about the potential risks to civilian flights in the vicinity.
Despite these incidents, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has not deemed the GPS problems as a direct danger to flights. An EASA spokesperson, Janet Northcote, remarked, “Currently, the situation is not considered unsafe.” Nevertheless, the agency is continuously monitoring events to ensure no unsafe conditions develop.
Experts have also pointed out that aircraft can navigate without GPS. Stuart Fox, director of flight and technical operations safety at airline lobby IATA, explained that modern aircraft integrate different navigation sources. However, Goward cautioned that while pilots can still navigate their way, not having GPS working properly “makes pilot and air traffic controller workload go up, and the chances of mistakes go up.”
The geopolitical aspect of these jamming incidents cannot be ignored, as Goward links them to significant military and political events, such as Sweden’s path to NATO membership and the U.S. installation of an Aegis anti-missile system in Poland.
Relevant articles:
– Unprecedented GPS jamming attack affects 1600 aircraft over Europe
– Airlines report GPS signal jamming: Russia gets the blame, POLITICO Europe, Thu, 28 Mar 2024 15:06:00 GMT
– Russia is suspected of jamming the signals of a plane carrying the UK’s defense secretary, Yahoo News UK, Fri, 15 Mar 2024 12:55:17 GMT
– Russia suspected of jamming GPS signal on aircraft carrying Grant Shapps, The Guardian, Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT