Russia suspected in major GPS disruptions affecting European flights

In recent months, there has been a notable increase in serious GPS signal disruptions across Central Europe. The most recent of these incidents occurred on Sunday, as reported by the Daily Mail, causing complications for the flights of over 1,600 airplanes. Indications suggest that Russia could be responsible for these navigation issues.

The disruptions are believed to be emanating from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, affecting flights over Poland, the Baltic states, the Baltic Sea, and southern Sweden.

Since Sunday, a total of 1,614 airplanes, mostly civilian, have reported difficulties in determining their positions.

The Daily Mail cited security expert Prof. Melanie Garson, who stated that Russia holds an advantage in electronic warfare capabilities over Western countries.

Prof. Garson further noted, "Over the past two years, Russia has significantly bolstered its capabilities in this area. There are serious concerns that NATO is currently ill-equipped to deal with this situation".

Suspicion falls on the Kremlin for the GPS disturbances in Europe. Michał Marek, a disinformation expert, noted on social media that mentions of the disruptions surface almost immediately on Russian propaganda channels.

These channels push a consistent narrative: that NATO is intentionally disrupting the GPS signal to obscure the movement of its troops, suggesting the Alliance is preparing "for an attack".

This incident is the latest in a series of disruptions in recent months, observed John Wiseman, an expert from Gpsjam, who noted that the scale of these incidents is unparalleled. He suspects they might be due to deliberate jamming or military exercises.

Joakim Paasikivi of the Swedish Defence University told SVT, the Swedish public broadcaster, that Russia had previously interfered with GPS systems in Northern Europe.

Paasikivi suggested that the disruptions could be part of Russian influence operations or so-called hybrid warfare, stating, "It may be Russia's way of sowing uncertainty and demonstrating power".

While the GPS system is crucial for navigation and positioning, such disruptions, though problematic for aviation, do not pose a direct threat. Aircraft employ alternative positioning tools like accelerometers and fixed ground points in addition to GPS.

Source: dailymail.co.uk