EU blames Russia as GPS jamming disrupts president’s plane • The Register

A aircraft carrying European Fee (EC) president Ursula von der Leyen to Bulgaria was pressured to resort to guide navigation methods after GPS jamming that authorities have pinned on Russia.

The Monetary Occasions first reported the jamming, and within the EC’s midday Monday press briefing Deputy Chief Spokesperson Arianna Podestà confirmed the chartered aircraft carrying von der Leyen was certainly unable to entry GPS indicators on Sunday because it approached town of Plovdiv.

Podestà mentioned Bulgarian authorities imagine Russia carried out the jamming and, when requested if that evaluation is correct, mentioned the EC accepts the speculation.

Spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen chimed in, saying Europe is “seeing various this”, particularly on its Jap flank – which means nations nearest to Russia.

GPS jamming includes transmission of radio waves in the identical frequencies utilized by GPS satellites. As these sats are round 20,000kms above Earth, the indicators they ship are fairly weak. A terrestrial transmitter can overwhelm GPS information. It’s additionally potential to spoof information from GPS satellites in an effort to guide those that depend on satnav astray.

Neither Podestà nor Itkonen described the precise nature of this jamming incident, or how the presidential aircraft addressed it. Itkonen talked about procedures for switching from autopilot to guide flying. She additionally famous that the EU’s sanctions on Russia have singled out firms thought to offer Moscow with GPS jamming capabilities.

The European Union’s Commissioner for Defence and Area Andrius Kubilius used his X account to lament the incident.

“Jamming and spoofing harms our air, maritime & transport economies,” he wrote, including that the bloc “…will enhance satellites in low Earth orbit for robustness and we’ll improve interference detection.”

These efforts may very well be years off. Itkonen mentioned member states are engaged on an motion plan to ameliorate future GPS jamming assaults, however when that can arrive is unknown. She added that the European Union Aviation Security Company (EASA) is a part of that effort.

EASA has already taken some motion: in June it announced “a complete plan to mitigate the dangers stemming from international navigation satellite tv for pc system (GNSS) interference” that described jobs that should be finished to handle GPS jamming, together with:

• Growing customary radio requires reporting GNSS interference and standardized discover to airmen (NOTAM) coding, i.e. Q codes;
• Tightening controls (together with export and licensing restrictions) on jamming gadgets;
• Sustaining a backup for GNSS with a minimal operational community of conventional navigation aids.
• Bettering civil-military coordination, together with the sharing of GNSS radio frequency interference (RFI) occasion knowledge.

The plan additionally requires Europe to “Put together for evolving-threat capabilities, additionally for drones.”

Once more, there’s no deadline for these things to occur.

Which leaves open an necessary query: Is it secure to get on a aircraft in Europe proper now?

The reply is “Sure”, as a result of plane-makers and airways equip business plane with different navigation instruments. Pilots obtain coaching in easy methods to use them.

A greater query could also be “Can a European army depend on GPS to information drones or missiles proper now?” The Register suspects the reply to that may very well be “Categorised.” ®