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According to a new report citing a French aviation official, Russia’s military is jamming airline satellite navigation near the Black Sea, eastern Finland and Kaliningrad, a small Russian province along the Baltic Sea located between Lithuania and Poland.

The satellite navigation disruption is being caused by Russian trucks with jamming equipment meant to defend Russian troops from GPS-guided munitions, Benoit Roturier, satellite navigation head of France’s civil aviation authority DGAC, told Bloomberg.

“I don’t think the goal is to jam civil aviation at this stage,” he said. “That is collateral damage.”

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On March 17, EASA published a safety information bulletin warning pilots that spoofing and/or jamming had intensified in the four geographical areas due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The effects of [Global Navigation Satellite System] GNSS jamming and/or possible spoofing were observed by aircraft in various phases of their flights, in certain cases leading to rerouting or even to change the destination due to the inability to perform a safe landing procedure,” EASA said in a safety information bulletin.

“Under the present conditions, it is not possible to predict GNSS outages and their effects. The magnitude of the issues generated by such outage would depend upon the extent of the area concerned, on the duration and on the phase of flight of the affected aircraft.”

On March 17, EASA published a safety information bulletin warning pilots that spoofing and/or jamming had intensified in the four geographical areas due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The effects of [Global Navigation Satellite System] GNSS jamming and/or possible spoofing were observed by aircraft in various phases of their flights, in certain cases leading to rerouting or even to change the destination due to the inability to perform a safe landing procedure,” EASA said in a safety information bulletin.

“Under the present conditions, it is not possible to predict GNSS outages and their effects. The magnitude of the issues generated by such outage would depend upon the extent of the area concerned, on the duration and on the phase of flight of the affected aircraft.”

GPS signal interference along Finland’s eastern border with Russia.

The transportation agency said at the time it did not know what was causing the interference, which is difficult to detect on the ground or verify because of the relatively short durations of interference.

Fintraffic Air Navigation Services Ltd. issued a Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) informing pilots of the issue and instructing them to use traditional approach systems that do not require a GPS signal for flying the final approach. Airlines were also told to make their own decisions about whether or not to fly in the region.

While the jamming can be a distraction for pilots, airlines have procedures in place for when GPS signals are lost. The ability to deal with such a disruption, however, can vary due to aircraft size. While some aircraft are able to use inertial reference system (IRS) to fix the airplane’s position as a workaround for GPS, it’s a system not common on smaller aircraft, according to Mentourpilot.com.

The jamming is a wake-up call, Roturier told Bloomberg.

Boac wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 04, 2022 7:49 pm

Going way back(!) , probably 2003, I finished up in Venice with a BA 737-400 that had dropped its database bits and bytes all over the cockpit floor, and eventually got permission to fly back non-RNAV to Gatwick, using VORs and NDBs. Even then most of the Nav waypoints were not VOR based and it was hard work! Fortunately it was not that many years since that was how I 'did' it, but for new crews....................!

Undried Plum wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 04, 2022 8:50 pm

So who's jamming Glonass?

Rwy in Sight wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 04, 2022 7:22 pm

I thought NOTAM means Notice to Air Men.

How many VOR are still operational and how may aircraft are equipped to use them?

Rwy in Sight wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 04, 2022 7:22 pm

How many VOR are still operational and how may aircraft are equipped to use them?

Wodrick wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 04, 2022 10:50 pm

It's 14 years since I retired now the VOR network was still active then and all a/c I dealt with were VOR (mostly dual) equipped.
Many also were GPS capable so would RNAV around the world rather than VOR hopping.
I expect this is still the case as by no means are all a/c GPS equipped so VOR/NDB will still be the order of the day for some time to come.
Therefore independent navigation sans GPS is still possible, no big deal.

Take VHF Coms, Aircraft Still use AM VHF, and , while I know there is a very specific reason for this, it is still decades out of date.

Not Loran please not Loran, thankfully shutdown.

Rwy in Sight wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 04, 2022 7:22 pm

I thought NOTAM means Notice to Air Men.

PHXPhlyer wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 05, 2022 1:44 am

Rwy in Sight wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 04, 2022 7:22 pm

I thought NOTAM means Notice to Air Men.

NOTAMs became Notices to air missions fairly recently.
Apparently, someone took offense at the 'men' part.

PP

TheGreenGoblin wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 04, 2022 9:03 pm

Undried Plum wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 04, 2022 8:50 pm

So who's jamming Glonass?

Nobody apart from the errant barbarians use Glonass!

Bring back the VOR, all is forgiven the NDB! Come back LORAN.

Chart and thumb?

Undried Plum wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 05, 2022 10:15 am

Our samples were sent to a chemwar biolab (probably not one of the US-sponsored ones in Ukraine, but something similar) where it was found that a toxin was produced by a fungal growth which thrives in *sh*t* at a certain temperature and humidity. It was that toxin which was making people sick, not a dastardly Russian plot to take over the world and enslave us all by inflicting an addiction to Roubles.


Errant Barbarian