WASHINGTON - Commercial aircraft flying in the Middle East and northern Europe have been caught up in a spate of GPS spoofing incidents, which have thrown onboard navigation systems off course and pose an increasing risk to air travel the world over, according to international aviation bodies and experts, Amy Mackinnon writes for Foreign Policy. Continue reading original article.
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
21 March 2024 - Mckinnon writes that in the late summer of 2023, pilots operating in the Middle East started to document occurrences where their onboard navigation systems were compromised by counterfeit GPS signals, occasionally displaying deviations of hundreds of miles from their intended routes. This led to a "total loss of navigational functionality," compelling crews in some cases to depend on verbal instructions from air traffic controllers, as reported by OpsGroup, an association representing pilots and flight dispatchers. Various aircraft, ranging from small business jets to large Boeing 777s, have experienced these disruptions.
The initial incidents were observed within a stretch of Iraqi airspace adjacent to the country's border with Iran, commonly traversed by flights between Europe and the Gulf states. According to OpsGroup, the pilot of a business jet en route to Dubai recounted a near breach into Iranian airspace due to the malfunction of its navigation system.
Jamie Whitney, Senior Editor
Military + Aerospace Electronics
