What is the GPS jamming that disrupted EU’s von der Leyen flight?

BRUSSELS – After a plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suffered a GPS navigation outage on its approach to Plovdiv in Bulgaria on Aug 31, the authorities in the country said the signal had likely been jammed by Russia. 

Reports of GPS interference have proliferated since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, especially in eastern Europe.

In 2024, a plane carrying then-UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps faced a similar situation when it flew over Poland near the Russian territory of Kaliningrad. 

The problem has become so widespread that there’s even a website that provides a daily map of locations hit by suspected signal jamming.

Asked by the Financial Times about the reports linking the latest GPS jamming incident to Russia, a Kremlin spokesman said the paper’s information was incorrect. 

Commercial planes generally rely on GPS and other global satellite navigation technology to show pilots where they are, and European officials have warned of the dangers of disabling these systems. 

What is GPS jamming? 

The US-owned Global Positioning System uses signals from a network of satellites to give precise location, altitude and time data to users. Smartphones, boats and cars use it for navigation, as do commercial airliners.

The satellites that broadcast the signals are in medium-earth orbit, some 20,116km above Earth’s surface. GPS jamming uses ground-based signals to block or overpower the relatively weak radio communications broadcast from outer space.  

Jamming is distinct from spoofing, another method of disrupting GPS systems in which incorrect data is broadcast to devices so that they give inaccurate location data.  

Who does GPS jamming, and why?

Taxi and truck drivers sometimes use GPS jammers so they can skirt rules on driving hours or avoid being tracked. South Korea was subjected to a campaign of GPS jamming by North Korea in 2016.

There have also been reports of jamming designed to disrupt shipping in strategic locations such as the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea. 

Following the Oct 7, 2023 attacks in Israel, the military there has been jamming GPS signals to protect against missiles, rockets and drones that use satellite navigation.  

Russia has turned to blocking GPS to defend against increasingly regular Ukrainian drone attacks on its energy infrastructure.

Despite the measures, a series of strikes on Russian refineries in August temporarily shuttered about 13 per cent of the country’s active capacity. 

Russia’s government has acknowledged that it jams GPS signals where necessary to protect its national infrastructure from attacks.

Moscow’s critics, including several EU member states, say it’s engaged in a systematic GPS jamming campaign that’s a form of hybrid war on its neighbors in the region. 

How is GPS jamming affecting air traffic in the region?

Estonian regulators said 85 per cent of flights to the country have been facing GPS-related disruption, with at least two flights in the Baltic region diverted due to jamming. 

A Ryanair flight from London to Vilnius was sent to Warsaw in January. In April 2024, a Finnair flight from Helsinki couldn’t land in Tartu, Estonia and was forced to return to its departure city.

Following that incident, Finnair suspended its flights to Tartu for all of May due to GPS interference, and only resumed after it developed new approach methods that are based on radio signals from ground stations. 

Lithuania in July accused Russia of orchestrating a surge in GPS jamming, causing a 22-fold increase in such incidents compared with the previous year. Maritime shipping has also been disrupted.  

What can be done?

Commercial aircraft have alternative methods to determine their location, such as inertial navigation systems and, failing that, a map, compass and stopwatch. Paper maps were used to help land Dr von der Leyen’s plane safely.  

Several EU member states sent a joint letter to the European Commission in June urging a coordinated response to signal interference.

In response, the EU’s executive proposed a series of actions, including accelerated deployment of interference-resistant services and upgrades to navigation infrastructure. BLOOMBERG