In the first four months of 2024, Russia jammed the GPS signal on one in four British Air Force flights.
Points of attention
- GPS jamming of various types of aircraft can pose significant threats to flight safety and increase the burden on pilots.
- The British Defense Minister called Russia's actions reckless and confirmed the need to avoid these threats to the safety of flights.
- Problems with GPS navigation in Europe are related to Russian actions, including the jamming of signals near the Kaliningrad region.
- The safety of flights and compliance with international standards in the airspace are threatened by the actions of the Russian military.
How the Russians jammed the GPS of British military aircraft
A detailed analysis of the Flight Radar 24 service made it possible to reveal the large-scale obstacles created by the Russians for the flights of British aviation. The Telegraph analyzed almost one and a half thousand flights made by 63 British military aircraft in the period from January 1 to April 30, 2024 over Eastern Europe and the Middle East .
Thus, the newspaper found that 142 transport and observation flights of the British Air Force out of 504 throughout Eastern Europe suffered from GPS interference during the specified period. In 60 of them, jamming attempts were repeated — about every eighth flight.
As The Telegraph points out, it is about passenger and transport planes, refueling planes, as well as reconnaissance planes, and not combat aircraft. But these aircraft are still an important part of Britain's defense capability.
GPS jamming can create significant headaches for pilots, disrupting navigation systems and increasing the strain on pilots in congested airspace near conflict zones. Reducing these risks is essential to flight safety, Flight Radar 24 spokesman Ian Petchenik told The Telegraph.
What preceded it
British Defense Minister Grant Shapps, who was himself on board the plane that experienced jamming of the GPS signal in the spring, called the publication of The Telegraph "another example of Russia's recklessness and another proof that it is an uncontrolled enemy state."
Fortunately, our planes and pilots can deflect this threat, but it illustrates President Putin's contempt for the West and the rules-based international order, Shapps added.
Problems with GPS navigation in Europe have been reported since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in particular around Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian enclave facing the Baltic Sea.
European states believe that these are purposeful actions by Moscow.
To create obstacles, Russia is probably using an electronic warfare base in the Kaliningrad region. Since December 15, 2023, planes regularly suffer from navigational errors over the southern part of the Baltic Sea.
