More than 46,000 aircraft have reported GPS signal problems during flights over the Baltic Sea in the past 8 months, the Guardian reports. According to aviation experts, the reason is Russian attempts to cover military infrastructure from satellite targeting systems.
According to Newsweek, GPS interference has increased due to the deployment of additional specialized systems in the Russian Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, where there is an important naval base.
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GPS was created as a military system and today it is used, for example, by cruise missiles and air and sea drones – the weapons with which Ukraine and Russia have been exchanging blows in the deep rear for 2 years now. At the same time, satellite navigation has already had a large-scale civilian application for nearly 25 years.
Jammers can not only deprive aircraft and ships of accurate location and speed data, but are even capable of purposefully providing false information. This is potentially dangerous because it can mislead the crew.
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According to experts, Moscow has not taken deliberate action against civilian trafficking, but it is a fact that there are risks. Passenger planes also have alternative navigation systems, but in the conditions of the ongoing war in Ukraine, with the use of manned and unmanned aircraft and long-range anti-aircraft missile systems, even the slightest error in the course can expose hundreds of people to danger.
We found out what it is in 2014, when a Malaysia Airlines plane was mistakenly shot down by pro-Russian separatists over Ukraine and nearly 300 people died.
