Is Russia Jamming the GPS of European Planes? By Richard Miller (London)
There has been a report of over 1,600 planes flying over and around the Baltic Sea in northern Europe experiencing interference, mainly GPS jamming, which can confuse pilots. There have been no accidents as such, yet. The blame is being put upon Russia, which could be true. It may be a test run of the cyber and electronic warfare that will be unleashed if and when, World War III starts. Western populations, highly dependent upon this techno-infrastructure will not be ready, when it comes.
"More than 1,600 planes have been hit by a mysterious interference that many fear Russia is behind.
Planes flying over and around the Baltic Sea in northern Europe have been suffering technical problems caused by jamming since Sunday, with 1614 planes, mostly civilian, reporting problems since then.
While most of them appear to be taking place in Polish airspace, OSINT blogs have reported that planes flying in German, Danish, Swedish, Latvian and Lithuanian airspace have suffered interference problems.
Notably, little to no interference appears to be taking place in Belarus, a staunch Russian ally, or Kaliningrad, the Russian province separated from the mainland by sea and land.
The planes appear to be suffering from GPS jamming, which can confuse pilots as this can make them believe they are in a different location than they actually are.
Newsweek reported that the uptick in interference can largely be attributed to the Kaliningrad region, where Russia is believed to have significant resources for the use of electronic warfaRe.
A Lithuanian defence source told the outlet: 'Russian armed forces have a wide spectrum of military equipment dedicated for GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) interference, including jamming and spoofing, at varying distances, duration and intensity.'
A leading military expert said that Russia's dominance in the electronics war should be a 'wake-up call' for the UK's military.
Dr Melanie Garson, associate professor of International Security at University College London, told Forces.net: 'Russia particularly has previously had an edge on this and they have necessity.
'The mother of invention over the last two years during the war have actually actively solidified their capabilities in this regard.
'They've had the chance to use it more concretely and there's a real concern that, particularly NATO, currently doesn't match that capability.'"
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