Thousands of holidaymakers flying to and from the UK have been hit by suspected Russian jamming of GPS signals, with aviation experts branding the cyber attack another front in Vladimir Putin’s “Cold War” with the West.
An increasing number of planes carrying passengers from the UK to countries near the Russian border have reported the outages, leaving “scope for errors” for pilots having to navigate flights without GPS.
According to analysis of flight logs from GPS Jam, in the eight months to the end of March, 2,309 Ryanair flights and 1,368 Wizz Air planes logged satnav problems in the Baltic region.
A further 82 British Airways flights, seven from Jet2, four easyJet flights and seven operated by TUI were also affected.
Suspected Russian interference with GPS signals increased from fewer than 50 incidents a week last year to more than 350 a week in March.
Peter Caddick-Adams, a former Nato historian and defence analyst, told i the targeting of commercial airlines is “part of Russia’s tactics to create confusion and disruption in the West”.
“The move breaches the code of practice that you don’t attack civilian airlines,” he added.
The spate of incidents comes after Russia was believed to have interfered with the satellite signal of an RAF aircraft carrying Defence Secretary Grant Shapps from Poland back to the UK in March. The GPS signal was jammed for around 30 minutes while the aircraft flew close to the Russian territory of Kaliningrad near the Baltic Sea, leading to the jet taking an alternative route to re-determine its location while in the air.
Justin Crump, a former British Army officer who runs risk intelligence company Sibylline, told i: “This is activity from what is being called the ‘Baltic Jammer’, almost certainly located in Kaliningrad.
“This has been increasingly active since the war started in Ukraine, and causes widespread interference around that region”.
According to GPS Jam, areas with “high levels of GPS interference” include Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey – all countries that border Russia’s western flank with Europe. Meanwhile, there is zero-to-low GPS interference with Russian-allied China, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) acting executive director Luc Tytgat said: “We have seen a sharp rise in attacks on these systems, which poses a safety risk. We immediately need to ensure that pilots and crews can identify the risks and know how to react and land safely.”
EASA hasn’t been able to confirm the Russian origin of the interference or whether the jamming is intentional.
However, security experts say the difficulty to trace the source of the jammed signal, makes this method of warfare “appealing to Russia”.
Mr Caddick-Adams said: “This is cyberwarfare – it’s deniable and hard to trace, so Russia can distance itself from the signals. This is straight from the Russian playbook; testing how the West will react while being able to deny culpability.”
While Russia allegedly jams GPS signals so they can no longer operate, there have also been reports of “spoofing” – a form of electronic warfare that interferes with satnavs so that they falsely suggest the jet is flying in a circular motion.
Israel has also been accused of jamming and spoofing GPS signals on its border with Lebanon where it is engaged in tit-for-tat strikes with Iran-allied Hezbollah.
Israeli jamming has previously caused civilian planes headed for Beirut being forced to turn back because of the signal blackout, while Beirut airport has had its navigation systems interfered with.
In March, the Lebanon foreign ministry filed an urgent complaint with the UN Security Council over what it called Israel’s violation of its sovereignty by disrupting its navigation systems.
But regulators say that the GPS problems are not a danger to flights.
Bernard Lavelle, an aviation consultant at BL Aviation Consulting, told i that while “current issues are likely down to proactive interference by Russia, which is both dangerous and against international law, fortunately, aircraft have other systems on board… that provides pilots with coordinates as to their position”.
Mr Crump said that the jamming “causes some disruptions but these can be worked around especially in the regions most affected”, although he added: “It’s a persistent attack on freedom of navigation and critical services that is more than an irritant”.
Ryanair, Easyjet, BA, Wizz Air, Jet2 and TUI have been contacted for comment.
Ryanair told The Sun: “If any location systems, such as GPS, are not functioning then the crew switch to alternate systems,” while easyJet said it had procedures to mitigate against GPS issues.