Blog Editor Update: We have not seen an announcement, but we are told that the tests described below were “cancelled by the sponsor.” Perhaps because of flight safety concerns?
Gizmodo, Matt Novak 6/7/2016
Starting today, it appears the US military will be testing a device or devices that will potentially jam GPS signals for six hours each day. We say “appears” because officially the tests were announced by the FAA but are centered near the US Navy’s largest installation in the Mojave Desert. And the Navy won’t tell us much about what’s going on.
The FAA issued an advisory warning pilots on Saturday that global positioning systems (GPS) could be unreliable during six different days this month, primarily in the Southwestern United States. On June 7, 9, 21, 23, 28, and 30th the GPS interference testing will be taking place between 9:30am and 3:30pm Pacific time. But if you’re on the ground, you probably won’t notice interference.
Blog Editor’s note: The reason the FAA is concerned about Embraer Phenom 300 business jets is that one such aircraft had a partial flight control failure while flying over a GPS interference test area in April.
