Surge in False GPS Signals Challenges Pilots Amidst Ukraine Conflict

The escalation of the war in Ukraine has brought an unexpected challenge for airline pilots worldwide, as reported by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). An increase in false GPS signals has been complicating navigation beyond the immediate vicinity of the conflict zone, affecting flights over the eastern Mediterranean, Iraq, and areas close to Ukraine. These disruptions, which are believed to be of military origin, have transitioned from mere signal jamming to more perilous spoofing incidents, where aircraft receive incorrect coordinates, leading to potentially dangerous situations.

Pilots and aviation officials have reported several incidents where aircraft systems were deceived into believing there were imminent dangers, such as ground collisions, even while cruising at high altitudes. According to Thierry Oriol, a seasoned Boeing 777 pilot and member of France’s main pilots’ union, SNPL, these false alarms can dramatically suggest evasive maneuvers when there are no actual threats present. Instances have occurred where planes, shortly after departure, perceived themselves to be at drastically incorrect altitudes or locations.

Managing these risks has become a nuanced task for airline crews. While initial false alerts may be quickly identified as such, the procedure dictates that pilots still perform emergency maneuvers and conduct a thorough analysis before disabling the faulty alarms, knowing other systems are still operational to detect genuine dangers.

The primary navigation tool for pilots, the global navigation satellite system (GNSS), encompasses the American GPS, Europe’s Galileo, and Russia’s GLONASS. Despite the reliance on GNSS for accurate positioning, airliners are also equipped with inertial navigation systems (INS) that calculate an aircraft’s position based on motion. However, the precision of INS gradually decreases during flight, posing an added challenge.

EASA has observed a significant uptick in GNSS signal disruptions since the onset of the Ukraine war, with disturbances reaching as far as Finland and parts of the Mediterranean. These disruptions have occasionally necessitated altered flight paths or even changes in destination to ensure safe landings.

The frequency of such GPS spoofing incidents has reached alarming levels, with an informed source citing that as many as 3.7 flights per 1,000 experience this phenomenon. To combat these growing concerns, EASA has partnered with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in an initiative launched in late January to address spoofing and jamming threats. This collaboration aims to ensure the safety of operations in congested airspace by improving the resilience of satellite navigation systems against attacks.

EASA’s acting executive director, Luc Tytgat, highlighted the importance of GNSS systems for aviation safety and the urgent need to adapt navigation and landing system certification requirements in response to the rise in GNSS attacks. Meanwhile, IATA’s director general, Willie Walsh, emphasized the necessity of coordinated data collection, universal incident guidance, and the maintenance of traditional navigation systems as backups to counteract the safety risks posed by GNSS disruptions.

More related stories: Airbus A350-1000 Embarks on Crucial GPS Signal Integrity Trials Amidst Growing Spoofing Concerns

Sources: AirGuide Business airguide.info, bing.com, kyivpost.com