it's not just war zones
March 24, 2025 2:33 AM Subscribe
Pilot Akseli Meskanen's cockpit is warning him that his Airbus A330 passenger plane is about to crash into the ground... But he's 33,000ft in the air. So what's happening? Why could his aircraft be telling him things that aren't true? from "Pull up! Pull up!" [Sky News]
For folks like me who have seen an article or two here about faulty autopilots and other plane related issues and assumed this was the same - it is not. It is about illicit GPS jamming by countries (in the case of the mentioned war zones) or other suspected or unknown actors, and thus may also be of interest to people who people who aren’t particularly interring planes but are interested in policy and politics.
posted by eviemath at 3:30 AM on March 24 [9 favorites]
posted by eviemath at 3:30 AM on March 24 [9 favorites]
The article didn’t mention Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 which was shot down by Russian surface-to-air missiles just a couple of months ago:
The Russians shot down civilian jets over territory they control all the time. The Azerbaijan Airline flight (38 dead), the corporate jet of Wagner Group, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 (which killed 298 civilians). Then there was the forced landing of Ryanair Flight FR4978 to kidnap a passenger on board, by Putin’s ally in Belarus.
Looking at a world map, it’s pretty clear that there aren’t too many options between Asia and Europe without crossing over places where planes are at risk of a shooting incident. I don’t think this is a coincidence — and I personally think the downing of Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 may have been a calculated incident to disrupt air travel even further. This is how Russia "sanctions" other countries — they do it like a mafia state would.
posted by UN at 4:07 AM on March 24 [15 favorites]
Approximately 40 minutes after takeoff, as the aircraft entered Russian airspace near Grozny, the crew reported to air traffic control that it had lost GPS navigational aids. At the same time, the aircraft's Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B) signal, a system used for real-time aircraft tracking, also disappeared. These occurrences strongly indicate that the aircraft was subjected to "GPS jamming." Such interference is prohibited under international regulations established by the International Telecommunication Union and the International Civil Aviation Organization, both of which count Russia as a member.I flew over Azerbaijan and Georgia after that incident and it’s not a pleasant thought, what the Russians are doing. Flying over the Suwałki Gap — Russia a few kilometeres in one direction, Belarus in the other — does not feel safe either.
The Russians shot down civilian jets over territory they control all the time. The Azerbaijan Airline flight (38 dead), the corporate jet of Wagner Group, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 (which killed 298 civilians). Then there was the forced landing of Ryanair Flight FR4978 to kidnap a passenger on board, by Putin’s ally in Belarus.
Looking at a world map, it’s pretty clear that there aren’t too many options between Asia and Europe without crossing over places where planes are at risk of a shooting incident. I don’t think this is a coincidence — and I personally think the downing of Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 may have been a calculated incident to disrupt air travel even further. This is how Russia "sanctions" other countries — they do it like a mafia state would.
posted by UN at 4:07 AM on March 24 [15 favorites]
Fascinating and disturbing. Thanks for posting.
posted by eirias at 4:39 AM on March 24 [1 favorite]
posted by eirias at 4:39 AM on March 24 [1 favorite]
We all forget that GPS was a military invention, opened up for civilian use by Reagan, Clinton, and Bush Jr after the KAL007 disaster.
The entire planet now has so, so much infrastructure that depends on that signal now. If the US gets into a war footing and the chaos monkey decides to close it off for non-military use, what then? Can we all easily switch to Galileo?
posted by JoeZydeco at 5:16 AM on March 24 [8 favorites]
The entire planet now has so, so much infrastructure that depends on that signal now. If the US gets into a war footing and the chaos monkey decides to close it off for non-military use, what then? Can we all easily switch to Galileo?
posted by JoeZydeco at 5:16 AM on March 24 [8 favorites]
When this article says GPS, do they really mean GPS proper, or are they using it like we might use Kleenex to mean facial tissue? You’d think Russia jamming a US military system that also affects civilians would be treated as a serious international incident. I mean… I know why it isn’t now. But this didn’t sound new?
posted by eirias at 5:59 AM on March 24 [2 favorites]
posted by eirias at 5:59 AM on March 24 [2 favorites]
> it's not just war zones
Aye, it's their zones as well.
posted by lucidium at 6:39 AM on March 24 [1 favorite]
Aye, it's their zones as well.
posted by lucidium at 6:39 AM on March 24 [1 favorite]
Here's a couple of maps of global GPS jamming, derived from ADS-B data from airplanes around the world. FlightRadar 24, and (Metafilter's own) John Wiseman's map.
Most of the affected area is Russian-related. Myanmar also stands out.
Imagine if the Russian military were just blowing up lighthouses around the world.
posted by Nelson at 7:49 AM on March 24 [7 favorites]
Most of the affected area is Russian-related. Myanmar also stands out.
Imagine if the Russian military were just blowing up lighthouses around the world.
posted by Nelson at 7:49 AM on March 24 [7 favorites]
Think of it less like blowing up lighthouses than like turning on a big smoke machine somewhere between the lighthouse and your target, or putting a bigger brighter light on a ship off the coast which people could confuse for the lighthouse.
It’s still Fuckery, but the satellites sending the signals remain intact and continue to function properly when the fuckery is not being actively committed
posted by Jon_Evil at 8:13 AM on March 24 [8 favorites]
It’s still Fuckery, but the satellites sending the signals remain intact and continue to function properly when the fuckery is not being actively committed
posted by Jon_Evil at 8:13 AM on March 24 [8 favorites]
You can bet that as part of Golden Dome*, anti-GPS & anti-GLONASS technology will be used.
* yeah, let's name a defensive umbrella system after a metal that's rare, not very strong, and whose main application is showing off the wealth of whoever can actually afford the hideously high cost of it.
posted by Artful Codger at 8:27 AM on March 24 [3 favorites]
* yeah, let's name a defensive umbrella system after a metal that's rare, not very strong, and whose main application is showing off the wealth of whoever can actually afford the hideously high cost of it.
posted by Artful Codger at 8:27 AM on March 24 [3 favorites]
The FAA has begun to address the problem, but the road to flight certification is long and careful. The ICAO is working toward it as well.
Meanwhile Russian Shaheds already sport CRPA to allow them to reject GNSS spoofing on their way to their targets.
posted by the Real Dan at 8:27 AM on March 24 [3 favorites]
Meanwhile Russian Shaheds already sport CRPA to allow them to reject GNSS spoofing on their way to their targets.
posted by the Real Dan at 8:27 AM on March 24 [3 favorites]
> When this article says GPS, do they really mean GPS proper
Yes. It's been happening for a while now. Planes in Europe experience it.
It's very scary and definitely part of a war.
Keep in mind that the US military maintained satellites are only transmitting, the receivers are not military associated.
It's very challenging to prove what the source of this is, and even if we could, what would we do?
The under sea internet cable cutting is probably also part of this warfare.
posted by constraint at 8:33 AM on March 24 [2 favorites]
Yes. It's been happening for a while now. Planes in Europe experience it.
It's very scary and definitely part of a war.
Keep in mind that the US military maintained satellites are only transmitting, the receivers are not military associated.
It's very challenging to prove what the source of this is, and even if we could, what would we do?
The under sea internet cable cutting is probably also part of this warfare.
posted by constraint at 8:33 AM on March 24 [2 favorites]
The FAA has begun to address the problem...
Well, the FAA had begun to address the problem, but I don't doubt the Orange Fuckwit has created so much chaos that it's probably been shelved indefinitely.
posted by BlueHorse at 8:54 AM on March 24 [5 favorites]
Well, the FAA had begun to address the problem, but I don't doubt the Orange Fuckwit has created so much chaos that it's probably been shelved indefinitely.
posted by BlueHorse at 8:54 AM on March 24 [5 favorites]
> When this article says GPS, do they really mean GPS proper
Yes. It's been happening for a while now. Planes in Europe experience it.
"GPS" is the American satellite navigation system. The European one is called "Galileo." So if European planes are experiencing this jamming, it means they're jamming signals from two different kinds of satellites.
posted by OnceUponATime at 9:09 AM on March 24 [2 favorites]
Yes. It's been happening for a while now. Planes in Europe experience it.
"GPS" is the American satellite navigation system. The European one is called "Galileo." So if European planes are experiencing this jamming, it means they're jamming signals from two different kinds of satellites.
posted by OnceUponATime at 9:09 AM on March 24 [2 favorites]
The military is working on quantum navigation, which reduces drift on inertial measurements and would require no satellite input during flight. Expect this to eventually find its way into civilian applications, though we’re talking a time scale of years before it’s commercially available.
posted by cardboard at 9:16 AM on March 24 [3 favorites]
posted by cardboard at 9:16 AM on March 24 [3 favorites]
GPS and Galileo use the same frequency for basic civilian signals. The systems are designed to be broadly compatible and interoperate.
posted by ryanrs at 9:17 AM on March 24 [6 favorites]
posted by ryanrs at 9:17 AM on March 24 [6 favorites]
For those wondering how this works, every satellite in the GPS and Galileo constellations is constantly transmitting on the exact same frequency (1575.420 MHz).
Though they are all transmitting on the same frequency, each bird sings a different song. The songs are mathematically designed to be easily distinguishable from each other, so the DSP in the receiver can pick out each individual voice.
Details: CDMA and GPS Signals.
So if you jam 1575.420 MHz, you jam all civilian usage of both GPS and Galileo.
posted by ryanrs at 9:27 AM on March 24 [9 favorites]
Though they are all transmitting on the same frequency, each bird sings a different song. The songs are mathematically designed to be easily distinguishable from each other, so the DSP in the receiver can pick out each individual voice.
Details: CDMA and GPS Signals.
So if you jam 1575.420 MHz, you jam all civilian usage of both GPS and Galileo.
posted by ryanrs at 9:27 AM on March 24 [9 favorites]
IE Galileo is a hedge against the US turning selective availability back on not signal jamming.
posted by Mitheral at 9:51 AM on March 24 [3 favorites]
posted by Mitheral at 9:51 AM on March 24 [3 favorites]
There's several other GPS-like satellite systems in addition to Europe's Galileo: Russia's GLONASS, China's BeiDou, India's NavIC, Japan's QZSS. Some are not complete or are region-specific. GLONASS is widely supported by "GPS" chipsets, it's quite likely your phone is using it in addition to GPS. (Mostly your phone is using cell tower and wifi location, a different system). All of these systems use a range of different frequencies but all are jammable and (presumably) being jammed.
There's been some interesting work using Starlink satellites as a signal for geolocation instead of GPS. With near-GPS position accuracy! I imagine this is mostly experimental although maybe it's being used in a military context, like in Ukraine. In theory you could use any satellite signal to help locate yourself although nothing has the accuracy design of GPS-like systems. None of this is a solution for civilian aircraft.
posted by Nelson at 10:16 AM on March 24 [3 favorites]
There's been some interesting work using Starlink satellites as a signal for geolocation instead of GPS. With near-GPS position accuracy! I imagine this is mostly experimental although maybe it's being used in a military context, like in Ukraine. In theory you could use any satellite signal to help locate yourself although nothing has the accuracy design of GPS-like systems. None of this is a solution for civilian aircraft.
posted by Nelson at 10:16 AM on March 24 [3 favorites]
Yeah, I remember this first being in the news in Finland I don't know, ten years ago? News from last August in English. "GPS interference affecting almost all Finnish airports".
posted by fridgebuzz at 11:02 AM on March 24 [4 favorites]
posted by fridgebuzz at 11:02 AM on March 24 [4 favorites]
Nelson, thank you for bringing up Starlink. I don’t like to try to predict whether that would help or hurt us, given its ownership.
posted by eirias at 3:11 PM on March 24 [1 favorite]
posted by eirias at 3:11 PM on March 24 [1 favorite]
> When this article says GPS, do they really mean GPS proper, or are they using it like we might use Kleenex to mean facial tissue?
The latter, but only in same sense that people use "GPS" to refer to the location services on their phone.
posted by Back At It Again At Krispy Kreme at 5:45 PM on March 24
The latter, but only in same sense that people use "GPS" to refer to the location services on their phone.
posted by Back At It Again At Krispy Kreme at 5:45 PM on March 24
The GPS spoofing issue had me wondering: shouldn’t airlines be using encrypted signals and authentication that can’t be spoofed? It seems like an odd choice in design, that they accept any signal thrown at the aircraft.
It seems this is available with GPS for military use, but European satellites (Galileo) have it as well. It will be available commercially.
Fitting with the current state of affairs, there was tension between the US and EU in the early 2000’s about this. Not surprisingly, the US, which berates European countries about not spending enough for defense, disapproves when Europe spends more on its own security under its own terms. Meanwhile, as adversaries attack European aviation with electronic warfare by exploiting weaknesses in US GPS technology, crickets...
posted by UN at 3:37 AM on March 25
It seems this is available with GPS for military use, but European satellites (Galileo) have it as well. It will be available commercially.
Fitting with the current state of affairs, there was tension between the US and EU in the early 2000’s about this. Not surprisingly, the US, which berates European countries about not spending enough for defense, disapproves when Europe spends more on its own security under its own terms. Meanwhile, as adversaries attack European aviation with electronic warfare by exploiting weaknesses in US GPS technology, crickets...
#/media/File:Galileo_-_Wolfowitz_-_Letter.png){kind=link}
posted by UN at 3:37 AM on March 25
Related to the above: Airbus validates the Galileo satellite navigation system’s resistance to data attacks [Press Release]
posted by UN at 3:42 AM on March 25 [1 favorite]
Europe’s Galileo satellite-based navigation system will become the first to offer increased robustness in face of “spoofing” threats – providing enhanced security against malicious data forging attacks through an authentication mechanism developed and validated with Airbus expertise.Can't come soon enough.
Called the Open Service Navigation Message Authentication (OSNMA), this new service allows Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers to verify the authenticity of all transmitted information – ensuring that data is coming from Galileo and has not been modified in a malicious attempt to misguide the user.
Airbus is supporting the EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) in OSNMA’s service definition, including performance analyses and simulation. The company also has taken the lead for Galileo’s internal OSNMA testing phase – which commenced one year ago using a set of Airbus-identified service configurations. Since 15th November 2021 the OSNMA test signals are publicly available to any Galileo user. Thanks to Airbus developed software the global OSNMA service provision is monitored continuously and NMA data received by any GNSS receiver during the OSNMA test is processed to verify the authenticity of Galileo navigation messages.
posted by UN at 3:42 AM on March 25 [1 favorite]
At least we still have dead reckoning.
posted by rhizome at 1:55 PM on March 25 [1 favorite]
posted by rhizome at 1:55 PM on March 25 [1 favorite]
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