This operation aims to train crews for ground support missions in environments disrupted by GPS jamming. The exercise runs from May 27 to June 7, 2024, and involves large-scale equipment across several sites in France.聽

鈥淭wo Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs) will be issued weekly by the AAE to provide updates on the operation,鈥� the French Free Flight Federation (FFVL) said. 鈥淭here is a potential impact on GNSS procedures, depending on proximity to the interference zones.鈥�

The jamming operations will occur throughout this period, with two jammers capable of operating simultaneously at four different locations. GNSS signals will only be disrupted for 2 to 3 hours per day. The jamming will affect areas within a 100-nautical mile (185-kilometer) radius at 4,000 feet from the central point in the Puy-de-D么me region, central France.聽

Several European civil aviation authorities, including EASA, the French DGAC, and the Finnish Traficom, have reported increased GPS signal disruptions affecting flights following Russia精东影业 invasion of Ukraine.  EASA has identified four areas where GNSS jamming and/or spoofing has increased since February 24, 2022:  

• Kaliningrad region, surrounding Baltic Sea, and neighboring States;聽聽聽
• Eastern Finland;聽聽聽
• The Black Sea;聽聽聽
• The Eastern Mediterranean area is near Cyprus, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, and Northern Iraq.聽聽聽聽

Finnair decided to suspend its daily flights to Tartu, Estonia, from April 29 to May 31, 2024, due to ongoing GPS interference affecting the usability of Tartu Airport (TAY) approach methods. Recently, two Finnair flights diverted back to Helsinki because GPS interference hindered a safe approach and landing at Tartu. 

In May 2024, the UK Ministry of Defence announced it conducted commercial flight trials of quantum-based navigation systems, which it says are resilient against jamming and spoofing by hostile entities.聽

UK completes flight tests using quantum-based navigation systems

• Aviation Technology and Innovation

byClement Charpentreau

2024-05-14

The incident was initially reported by newspaper whose reporter was on board and was later confirmed by the British Prime Minister’s office. 

“While travelling back from Poland yesterday, the plane carrying the Defence Secretary and his delegation temporarily experienced GPS jamming when they flew close to Kaliningrad,” a government spokesperson said. “It didn’t threaten the safety of the aircraft and it is not unusual for aircraft to experience GPS jamming near Kaliningrad, which is of course Russian territory.” 

It is currently unclear whether the British minister’s flight was targeted intentionally. The jammer was active in the region for almost an entire day and disrupted GPS readings for several hundred flights, as illustrated by , a website that collects reports regarding the accuracy of GPS readings from ADS-B transmissions. 

Several European civil aviation authorities, including EASA, the French DGAC and the Finnish Traficom, have reported increased GPS signal disruptions affecting flights following Russia精东影业 invasion of Ukraine.  

EASA has identified four areas where GNSS jamming and/or spoofing has increased since February 24, 2022: 

• Kaliningrad region, surrounding Baltic Sea and neighboring States;  
• Eastern Finland;  
• The Black Sea;  
• The Eastern Mediterranean area near Cyprus, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Israel, as well as Northern Iraq.   

EASA warns of intensifying GPS jamming incidents linked to war in Ukraine

• War in Ukraine

byVictoria Bryan

2022-03-17

In 2022, the Royal Air Force received two Dassault Falcon 900LX, designated Envoy IV CC.1, and dedicated to short-haul transportation of VIPs, including government officials and the British Royal Family. The aircraft involved in this latest incident is registered G-ZAHS.聽

Royal Air Force receives second Dassault Falcon 900LX

• Defense

byClement Charpentreau

2022-08-03

Even though no risky in-flight situations have been reported to the authority yet, the DGAC manager of satellite navigation Benoit Roturier told in an interview with French media that a few flight disruption cases were recorded where pilots of commercial aircraft had to deal with alerts on the flight deck while flying around the Black Sea, the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, and Finland.  

The DGAC considers that the operation of satellite navigation systems is being negatively affected by Russian military trucks which are equipped with specific jamming equipment to protect Russian troops from satellite-guided weapons. However, the French authority said that the purpose of such jamming was not to impair commercial civil planes. 

How the invasion of Ukraine impacted global aviation

• War in Ukraine

byClement Charpentreau

2022-03-29

鈥淭hat is collateral damage,鈥� said Roturier. 鈥淓urope needs to prepare contingency plans for when these satellite systems are lost. […] For some countries closer to the front, who may be less advanced in putting in place contingency plans, the current situation has served to highlight the need. It精东影业 a wake-up call.鈥�  

GPS is the most well-known type of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), which uses satellites to provide highly accurate positioning, navigation, and timing measurements. GNSS is a key technology in the communications, navigation, and surveillance of civil aircraft, which is used in all phases of flight.  

The jamming of such a system could force the plane to re-route or even divert as it would lose the ability to perform certain landing procedures safely. The loss of GNSS data could also affect aircraft terrain avoidance and wind shear alerting systems. 

However, according to Roturier, a jammed aircraft can continue navigating using its inertial systems, although they provide less accurate data. 

Russian aircraft that violated Swedish airspace reportedly carried nukes

• Defense

byClement Charpentreau

2022-03-31

The DGAC is not the first aviation authority to consider the potential risks to civil aviation caused by GNSS jamming. In March 2022, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) published a safety information bulletin, in which it warned of an 鈥渋ncreased probability of problems鈥� with the GNSS linked to Russia精东影业 invasion of Ukraine.  

EASA identified four areas where the GNSS jamming intensified since February 24, 2022, the day when Russia started the war against Ukraine: the Kaliningrad region and the Baltic Sea, the eastern part of Finland, the Black Sea, and the Eastern Mediterranean area.   

EASA warns of intensifying GPS jamming incidents linked to war in Ukraine

• War in Ukraine

byVictoria Bryan

2022-03-17

The jamming or spoofing of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals has been observed by aircraft in various phases of flights, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said in a safety information bulletin (SIB) published on March 17, 2022.  

EASA said that in certain cases the jamming and/or spoofing forced aircraft into 鈥渞e-routing or even to change the destination due to the inability to perform a safe landing procedure.鈥� 

GPS is the most well-known type of GNSS, which is where satellites are used for positioning data. GNSS is a common way for commercial aircraft to navigate to waypoints in the air and can also be used to position for landing. Loss of GNSS data could also trigger issues with terrain avoidance and wind shear alerting systems, EASA said. 

EASA said four areas had been identified where GNSS jamming and/or spoofing had intensified since February 24, 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine:  

• Kaliningrad region, surrounding Baltic Sea and neighboring States; 
• Eastern Finland; 
• The Black Sea; 
• The Eastern Mediterranean area near Cyprus, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Israel, as well as Northern Iraq.  

Mysterious GPS signal disruptions reported in Eastern Finland

• Civil Aviation

byValius Venckunas

2022-03-09

 The safety agency therefore recommends that national aviation authorities (NAAs) ensure that conventional navigational aids are retained and fully operational, especially Instrument Landing Systems, which are commonly used for landing. Ground-based aids include distance measuring equipment (DMEs) and Very High Frequency omnidirectional range (VORs).  

NAAs should also issue NOTAM (Notices to Air Missions) to describe any affected areas and the resulting limitations and work with air navigation service providers to collect information. ANSPs should also make sure they have contingency measures in place in the event of large-scale jamming or spoofing of GNSS.   

Meanwhile, operators should tell flight crews to report any issues with GNSS equipment promptly to air traffic control and make sure they are aware of the possibility of jamming. Flight crews should also be prepared to verify their position using conventional navigation aids, be prepared to revert to conventional arrival procedures in affected areas and also make sure they don鈥檛 use an airport as an alternate destination if it only has a GNSS approach available.  

鈥淯nder the present conditions, it is not possible to predict GNSS outages and their effects,鈥� EASA stated. However, it said the current situation was not considered to be an 鈥渦nsafe condition鈥� that would warrant a Safety Directive.  

The British Air Line Pilots鈥� Association (BALPA) said in a post on LinkedIn that it was aware of spoofing and jamming of GNSS in southern areas adjacent to the conflict zone, reaching as far south as Cyprus and Israel.  

The International Federation of Air Line Pilots鈥� Associations (IFALPA) said it was also receiving 鈥渨orrying reports鈥� of military and non-military projectiles crossing air traffic regions near Ukraine. It highlighted the drone that crashed in Croatia after crossing Hungary from Ukraine on March 12, 2022.  

鈥淪tates and Operators should continue to exercise extreme caution when flying in these areas and use all pertinent information to assess flight safety and security risk,鈥� IFALPA said in .  

Croatian drone crash: 鈥渢oo early鈥� to say if it was carrying an explosive

• Defense

byValius Venckunas

2022-03-14

A  has been issued, warning of 鈥減ossible interruption to airborne GNSS equipment within Tel-Aviv Flight Information Region. Since then, pilots have relied on Instrument Landing System (ILS) to land in Ben Gurion International Airport. 

The Israel Airports Authority (IAA) has acknowledged “unexplained interruptions” in GPS signal but said that “measures [were] in place to allow safe landings and takeoffs”. 鈥淏en Gurion Airport controllers have been giving full guidance to planes that are taking off and landing. At no point has there been a safety incident connected to this GPS interference or related to navigation instructions or flight paths,鈥� the IAA spokesman said to . However, pilots argue that GPS malfunctions at a time when maximum concentration is required, such as during take-off and landing, may prove dangerous.

Israel精东影业 national broadcaster reported that other countries including Cyprus, Turkey, and part of the Greek islands had reported similar problems in the past weeks.

Israeli security officials declared on the IDF radio that the disruptions are the result of electronic warfare used by the Russian military to defend its assets at Khmeimim Air Base in Syria, 385km away from Tel Aviv. Disrupting GPS navigation may be used as a way to forbid the operation of drones around an area. But the Russian ambassador to Israeli  those allegations, qualifying them of 鈥渇ake news鈥�.

In March 2019, Norway had also expressed concerns about GPS interferences on its territory. In its 2019 , the Norwegian intelligence service (Etterretningstjenesten) reports that during the NATO exercise Trident Juncture 18 organized in the country in October 2018, multiple cases of GPS malfunctions were reported. 鈥淛amming is a particular cause for concern; during the exercise, there were several instances of loss of GPS signal, which affected Norwegian and allied air traffic鈥�, says the report, adding that 鈥渢his represents a threat to civilian air traffic as well as to healthcare and police services in peacetime鈥�. Norwegian forces explicitly accuse Russia of jamming the signal in what is described as a 鈥渃ontinuing trend鈥�. 

A  conducted by the U.S. think tank Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS) reported 9,883 cases of what is known as 鈥淕PS spoofing鈥� between February 2016 and November 2018, including during the visit of Vladimir Putin for the unveiling of the controversial Kerch Bridge that links Russia to Crimea.