Incidents are increasing: fake GPS signals endanger civil aircraft

Disturbed or false GPS signals are causing increasing problems for aircraft. The problems are growing, especially in the Middle East – with potentially dangerous consequences.

OPS Group sounds the alarm. In the international federation, about 8,000 pilots, controllers and flight planners inform each other about safety risks in international flight operations. It’s been building up for a few weeks now Reports Via intentionally distorted GPS signals. The Middle East appears to be particularly affected.

Private jets and commercial airlines are particularly affected by service disruptions. But holiday airlines could also be affected. So mentioned The German news magazine Spiegel reported that a Boeing 737 plane was the target of so-called “Global Positioning System (GPS) spoofing” on its way from Egypt to Frankfurt am Main.

The crew suddenly received strange navigation data over the Sinai Peninsula. However, since the values ​​were clearly incorrect, the crew ignored them and were able to continue the flight safely without any incident.

Deadly danger in Iranian airspace

But things don’t always have to end so easily. GPS signal spoofing can become a deadly risk, especially in the border area with Iran. Aircraft entering Iranian airspace without authorization could be shot down without warning.

Against this background, the business pilot en route to Dubai was lucky: he got within a few miles of Iranian airspace due to incorrect GPS signals. Other planes took off from Tel Aviv but were located in Beirut by the navigation system or were assumed to be in Tel Aviv as they approached Cairo.

Experts were not surprised that the problem was increasing; In the past few weeks, the OPS Group has documented between 70 and 80 such incidents. In Spiegel, Zach Clements, a navigation expert at the University of Texas, confirms that science “has warned the public about something like this for a long time.” The ease of availability of the necessary equipment is alarming: “You can buy it for less than $500,” Clements says.

There are no safety precautions in avionics

It has been known for years that GPS signals can be intentionally disabled. They are either rendered unusable by jamming transmitters, or otherwise called “jamming”. Or they are intentionally manipulated off the ground, which is known as “spoofing.” For example, Chief Clements steered an Italian yacht off course unnoticed more than a decade ago – using technology the size of a briefcase. In Moscow, jamming devices around the Kremlin send out disturbing signals; In front-line areas of Ukraine, GPS is unreliable.

The fact that fake GPS signals also occur in civil aviation is relatively new. Expert Clements suspects it may have to do with repelling drones. Experts have increasingly found jamming in Russian cities, in the Black Sea and Mediterranean regions, as well as in Israel, Jordan and northern Iraq. This should not be a problem for civil aircraft since there are many autonomous navigation systems on board. However, it also collects GPS data for better accuracy.

“There are no safety precautions in the avionics to detect incorrect GPS location. This makes the plane vulnerable to a complete loss of its navigation ability, warns Mark Zee, founder of OPS Group. The only action: the crew must turn off the GPS signal completely. It is unlikely that anyone would do this without knowing that it might be fake.