Call it hybrid warfare, or electronic warfare. In recent days, GPS signal jamming activities have intensified in the Baltic Sea area. In addition to the jamming station located in the Kaliningrad oblast, the Russian exclave on the border with Lithuania and Poland, a second location in Russia was also discovered where another base for launching interference to navigation systems appears to be in operation: a new Baltic Jammer. According to Markus Jonsson, an analyst who has been following and tracking GPS interference throughout the Baltics for months, the second jamming station would be located south-west of St. Petersburg and would be responsible for the latest “attacks” on Finnish Finnair flights over Estonia. Based on the signals, Jonsson calculated the likely location of Putin’s new jammer: roughly halfway between St. Petersburg and the Estonian border town of Narva.
Russia, attack on flights over Estonia (NATO airspace): Finnair suspends the route to Tartu, what happened?
The attack on the GPS, what’s happening
But what is happening? And why are these actions so dangerous? The interruption of GPS services began to worsen on Christmas Day. Planes and ships moving in southern Sweden and Poland lost connectivity due to interference of their radio signals. Since then, the region around the Baltic Sea, including neighboring Germany, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, have faced persistent attacks against their GPS systems. Tens of thousands of planes flying in the region have reported problems with their navigation systems in recent months due to widespread jamming attacks, which can render GPS inoperable. We are also talking about scheduled tourist flights. Not just military. As the attacks increased, responsibility shifted towards Russia, with open source researchers tracing the first source to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. In one case, signals were interrupted for 47 consecutive hours. On Monday, marking one of the most serious accidents ever, airline Finnair canceled its flights to Tartu, Estonia, for a month after GPS interference forced two of its planes to abort landing at the airport. and to backtrack.
Russia, attack on two Finnish flights over Estonia (in NATO airspace): GPS blocked, forced to reverse course
The alarm of the ministers of the Baltic countries
According to the Baltic News Service, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna stated that the disturbance carried out by Russia is so dangerous that sooner or later it will lead to a disaster. “This is therefore a deliberate action that interferes with our lives in a dangerous situation and can be considered a hybrid attack,” Tsahkna told Estonian broadcaster ERR. He was joined by the ministers of Latvia and Lithuania who pointed the finger at Russia, stating that the threat should be taken seriously. “It cannot be ruled out that this disturbance is a form of hybrid warfare with the aim of creating uncertainty and unrest,” Jimmie Adamsson, head of public affairs for the Swedish Navy, told Wired. “Of course, there are concerns, especially for civil shipping and aviation, that an accident would occur that would create an environmental disaster. There is also a risk that ships and planes will disrupt traffic to this area and therefore global trade will be affected.” “We must expect a situation of increasing threat in relation to GPS jamming,” adds Joe Wagner, spokesperson for the German Federal Office for Information Security, stating that there are technical ways to reduce its impact. Finnish officials say they have also noticed an increase in airline disruptions in and around the country. And a spokesperson for the International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency, admitted that the number of jamming and spoofing incidents has “increased significantly” over the past four years and that interference with radio signals is prohibited by ITU rules.
What are the risks for planes?
Interference to aircraft GPS systems can affect flight tracking displays and, in extreme cases, affect the actual operation of the aircraft. Airlines and flight crews are aware of these disturbances (so-called jamming), which can sometimes even be accidental, and are trained to use backup equipment when they occur, ensuring the safe operation and completion of flights. Commercial flight crews are trained in advanced risk management, meaning that should a false GPS signal create a warning in the cockpit, the crew will still respond calmly and methodically, diagnosing the problem and taking appropriate action .
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