February 2024: Public aircraft tracking databases indicate a recent increase in GPS interference for aircraft operating in the Baltics in the last month. Previously reported disruptions occurred on New Year’s Eve in southeastern Finland, followed by areas in Poland in mid-January. Towards the end of January, more reports of disruptions came in from southern Sweden, northern Poland, Estonia and Latvia.
The RNL’s Zach Clements expressed his confidence that Russia is the source of the spoofing. According to the Forbes article, “a number of transmitters across a large area jammed GPS to deny service and at least one was actively spoofing aircraft in such a fashion that their instruments would indicate they were flying in a circle far from their actual location. [Dana Goward (president of the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation)] noted that this kind of “circle spoofing” has been frequently observed with ships. The Holiday incidents were the first time it was reported in aviation. According to Clements, ‘the location the aircraft were spoofed to is a field about a kilometer from Russia’s decommissioned Smolensk military airbase.'” For more on the subject, visit the Forbes article here.
