[IsraelTimes] 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 region
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.
Specifically, the activities are impacting the Global Positioning System used by pilots to determine where they are by receiving signals from satellites.
Known as spoofing, the GPS jamming is used to confuse enemy missiles or drones, making it difficult for attackers to hit key targets accurately. However, the practice also scrambles signals that direct aircraft navigation instruments, making it difficult for them to determine their exact locations.
The spoofing is interfering not just with flights to and from Israel and areas around Ukraine, but also with planes that fly past those regions heading for other destinations.
According to the report, about 1,000 planes a day have their navigation systems interrupted as they fly near Israel and Ukraine, which is battling against a Russian invasion that started in 2022.
Since the spring, there has been a sixfold increase in GPS spoofing, it said.
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