Airlines report GPS signal jamming: Russia gets the blame – Politico

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March 29, 2024

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Written by Editor

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What’s New: GPS jamming and spoofing reported in Politico.

Why It’s Important: Interference with GPS and other GNSS is mostly a political issue, not a technical or engineering one. It is good to see the issue being reported by an outlet focused on politics.

What Else To Know:

We have the means to greatly reduce or eliminate much interference with GPS/GNSS signals. But doing so requires a focused effort by multiple governments.
That is not going to happen when nations can gain advantages by exploiting over-dependence on weak navigation and timing signals from space.
One of the surest ways to stop intentional disruption of GPS/GNSS by nation states is by implementing robust and resilient national PNT architectures. If users are not impacted much by disruptions of GPS/GNSS, there will be little motivation for malicious actors.
Remember, electronic warfare is… warfare.

Europe

Airlines report GPS signal jamming: Russia gets the blame

GPS interference is hitting aircraft navigation systems in the Baltics as well as in other conflict regions.

MARCH 28, 2024 4:06 PM CET

BY TOMMASO LECCA

BRUSSELS — Airplanes flying over the Baltic region are reporting an increasing number of missing or fake GPS signals — and Russia is seen as the likeliest culprit.

The blackout episodes — known as GPS jamming — have been occurring regularly since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022. The jamming seems to be concentrated around Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave — a key military area for Moscow.

“Russia is regularly attacking the aircraft, passengers, and sovereign territory of NATO countries,” said Dana Goward, president of the U.S.-based Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation, a GPS users lobby group.

What Can YOU Do? How Can YOU Help?

PNT is the quiet backbone of everything but too many leaders still don't see the risk.

But you do. You understand the systems, the dependencies, the failure chains. That insight is rare — and it's exactly what your country needs right now. Contact your government leaders and industry decision-makers and tell them resilient PNT isn't a feature — it's the foundation everything else depends on.

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