Image: Tobol GPS jammer operating in Kaliningrad. Source: Russian Space Systems
What’s new:
- More documentation about spoofing and jamming in the Baltic.
- We admit this isn’t entirely new information. We have all known for quite some time that Russia is behind the jamming and spoofing in the Baltic. And that a lot of it originates in Kaliningrad. The part about St. Petersburg is new to us, though. We did report on jamming there as part of a Navy-day celebration a year or so ago. Apparently now it is chronic.
Why its important: It is always good, though, to have more information about such activity that might, we hope, lead to counter or coping measures.
What else to know:
- Individual Baltic nations and the EU have been trying for years to figure out how to get Russia to stop without success.
- Russia has implied this jamming is part of its homeland defense. Yet Putin has a history of jamming and spoofing in the Baltic when his neighbors start getting closer to the west.
- Poland installed an American Aegis anti-missile system near its border with Kaliningrad and activated it around Christmas, 2023. Russia’s current spate of jamming in the Baltic has gone on ever since.
Researchers home in on origins of Russia’s Baltic GPS jamming
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Polish researchers have collected detailed information on Russia’s Baltic Sea GPS jamming operations, a mysterious nuisance for aviators and mariners in the region that began when Russia attacked Ukraine.
The airwaves over the Baltic Sea have been compromised ever since the war began. In the past years, thousands of planes and ships have had their navigation systems bamboozled, with some ending up veering off course or even needing to cancel their trips altogether. The culprit behind these mysterious aberrations: radio waves emanating from secretive facilities run by Russia’s military.
