GPS jamming amid wars playing havoc with airline navigation – report

Oct. 10, 2024
Around 1,000 flights a day suffer GPS interference as they pass near Israel or Ukraine, experts tell UK’s Times; in some cases, errors continue even after planes leave the region, Times of Israel staff reports.

TEL AVIV, Israel - Electronic countermeasures by participants in Israel’s battle against Hezbollah and other Iran-backed proxies, as well as Russia and Ukraine, are throwing off the navigation systems of tens of thousands of flights every month, the UK’s Times newspaper reported Saturday, Times of Israel staff reports. Continue reading original article.

The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:

10 October 2024 - GPS spoofing involves the intentional transmission of fake signals to deceive a receiver about its actual location. Unlike GPS jamming, which blocks signals and prevents location detection, spoofing tricks the system into believing it is in a different position.

Tactics like GPS spoofing have been used in war zones such as the Middle East and Ukraine to disrupt navigation and defense systems, including drones and missiles. Recently, commercial flights have increasingly been affected, with incidents rising from a few dozen daily in February to over 1,100 by August, according to SkAI Data Services and Zurich University. Retired United Airlines pilot Christopher Behnam reported frequent GPS interference when flying in the Middle East.

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Jamie Whitney, Senior Editor
Military + Aerospace Electronics

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