Russia disturbs GPS over the Baltic Sea: almost 123,000 flights failed

Tens of thousands of flight cancellations

Russia turns on the stumbling blocks

From January to April alone, almost 123,000 flights over the Baltic Sea failed because Russia disturbs the GPS navigation. The incidents have increased since 2022.

Russia apparently is more and more disturbing civil aviation over the Baltic Sea. The Swedish traffic authority reports. Accordingly, 733 aircraft previously reported disorders of satellite -based navigation systems on board this year. In the previous year there were a total of 495 cases and in 2023 55. In an investigation, Sweden and four other Baltic Sea rainers clearly identified Russia as the cause of the disorders.

“We can find out and also have evidence that the disorders of Russian territory are going out,” said Andreas Holmgren, head of the Swedish traffic authority., The Swedish broadcaster SVT Nyheter. Measurements have been determined that the interference stations in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and in St. Petersburg, Smolensk and Rostow are stationed. According to the examination, the Russian transmitters either block the GPS signals from aircraft or send false position information that confuse the navigation of the machines.

Due to the Russian interference attacks, almost 123,000 flights from 365 airlines failed from January to April alone. In April, according to the investigation, an average of 27.4 percent of all flights in the affected airspace failed, in some areas there were even more than 42 percent of all flights. The disorders concern the airspace over Poland, the Baltic States, Finland and Sweden. The development is a growing danger to flight safety, the countries write in their report to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

“We think the situation is serious because the number of disorders continues to increase and does not decrease,” said Andreas Holmgren at SVT Nyheter. “It is worrying that a global system that is used by many parts of society is deliberately disturbed.” Sweden’s Defense Minister Pål Jonson also reacted to the investigation: “We are prepared for this kind of threats, disorders and pressure,” says Jonson SVT Nyheter.