Russia jams GPS of jet carrying Grant Shapps on trip to Poland

The Telegraph:  Russia jammed the Global Positioning System (GPS) signal of the Grant Shapps’ official jet on a round trip to Poland.

Mr Shapps, the Defence Secretary, was travelling on the RAF’s Envoy, a Dassault 900LX, to visit troops in Mazury, a military base near the Belarus border, when the aircraft’s pilots lost access to the GPS.

The jet was passing Kaliningrad, a Russian territory between Poland and Lithuania, when the attack happened on Wednesday morning.

On the return flight, Russia blocked the system again, this time for 30 minutes, as Mr Shapps, who was accompanied by journalists, flew back to London on Wednesday evening. The plane’s internal Wi-Fi was also temporarily down during both of the jamming attacks.

A defence source said the jamming was “directly related to Putin and the attack on Ukraine and the sensitivities around Kaliningrad”.

However, Mr Shapps was assured that it did not threaten the safety of the aircraft. It is understood the pilots had contingency plans for such an event and were able to navigate by other means at their disposal.

The source added: “While the RAF are well prepared to deal with this, it still puts an unnecessary risk on civilian aircraft and could potentially endanger people’s lives. There is no excuse for this, and it’s widely irresponsible on Russia’s part.”

Grant Shapps during a meeting with soldiers in Orzysz, Poland, on Wednesday - Tomasz Waszczuk/Shutterstock

Dr Ramsey Faragher, founder of Focal Point Positioning, a navigation technology company specialising in GPS, explained the pilots flying Mr Shapps’ aircraft would have been using a GPS system similar to Sat Nav when the jam happened.

“The pilot will have known visually from information in the cockpit that the GPS signal was no longer active, causing frustration and confusion for the pilot,” he said.

Dr Faragher said GPS systems are notoriously “easy to jam”, which in turn “pollutes” systems within the cockpit.

“Fortunately there are multiple ways on the aircraft for a pilot to understand where they are,” he added.

Large expensive aircraft are generally fitted with the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), which uses radar and transponders, instead of GPS, to allow aircraft to warn each other of impending collisions. Being independent of GPS means these systems continue to prevent airborne collisions during GPS jamming.

Dr Faragher added: “The issue is small light aircrafts which rely entirely on the pilot’s eyeballs and GPS. In these aircrafts there are no collision avoidance systems like there are on larger planes.”

This is not the first time Russia has targeted RAF aircraft. In 2021, planes flying from Cyprus were subjected to routine GPS jamming by Russia.

Defence sources have said Russia’s pattern of behaviour was typical of being able to antagonise other nations without using direct violence.

This year Finland, Norway and Poland have all warned Russia’s jamming of GPS was not only affecting military units but also airlines and air ambulance services. The practice has been regarded as an almost daily occurrence when transiting near the Russian border.

A recent study by the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank, found Russia’s electronic warfare units are so widespread that they cause havoc with GPS signals in nearby countries.

It cited high levels of GPS interference in Poland on Jan 10 and Jan 16, and in the south Baltic Sea between Dec 25 and Dec 27. However, it was reported that although the interference affected aircraft GPS systems, flights were not impacted because air traffic control enabled navigation through alternative systems.

‘Putin needs to understand Nato is ready’

Mr Shapps was travelling to Poland to visit some of the 1,500 troops from the Army’s 7th Light Mechanised Brigade Combat Team who are taking part in Exercise Polish Dragon, an offshoot of Operation Steadfast Defender, Nato’s biggest military exercise since the Cold War. In total 20,000 British troops are conducting exercises between January and June.

Training alongside Nato allies in Poland, troops demonstrated a multinational live firing exercise as they acted out a scenario inside a “kill house”, where soldiers had to track down and fire on the enemy.

The deployment has seen 7th brigade of desert rats lead a multinational task force comprised of more than 750 vehicles which travelled across more than 3,000km of Europe in eight days – to test the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VTJF) ability to respond to a crisis situation.

Lt Col Ben Hawes, CO of 2nd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment and battle group commander of VJTF, said: “Our job is to punch ahead through complex terrain and set conditions for the armour to be launched. The reality is we are very close to the border with Belarus.... there is a deterrent effect as well.”

Speaking to soldiers after the demonstration, Mr Shapps told them they were “heroes” and thanked them for their work.

“We need to make sure that Putin understands that Nato is ready and that he can’t just carry on moving West, and that is where you guys come in,” he told them.