Airlines Report Russian GPS Jamming In Four Regions

The Russian military's jamming of airline satellite navigation is likely collateral damage from the war, a French aviation official reportedly said.

Kimberly Johnson

Friday, April 01, 2022 at 03:43 PM ET

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While the jamming can be a distraction for pilots, airlines have procedures in place for when GPS signals are lost. [File photo: Adobe Stock]

Key Takeaways:

Russia's military is disrupting airline satellite navigation (GPS) in regions including the Black Sea, eastern Finland, Kaliningrad, and the eastern Mediterranean, primarily as a collateral effect of jamming equipment meant to defend its troops.
These jamming incidents have caused significant issues for civil aviation, leading to flight rerouting, altered landing procedures, and a loss of various navigation capabilities, prompting safety warnings from EASA.
The situation serves as a critical "wake-up call" for European aviation authorities, highlighting the urgent need for all countries to develop and implement robust contingency plans for potential satellite system outages.

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According to a new report citing a French aviation official, Russia’s military is jamming airline satellite navigation near the Black Sea, eastern Finland and Kaliningrad, a small Russian province along the Baltic Sea located between Lithuania and Poland.

The satellite navigation disruption is being caused by Russian trucks with jamming equipment meant to defend Russian troops from GPS-guided munitions, Benoit Roturier, satellite navigation head of France’s civil aviation authority DGAC, told Bloomberg.