#Mysterious #problems #planes #flying #Sweden #Warning #bell
Mysterious problems for planes flying over Sweden – “Warning bell”
Sudden and technical problems for aircraft in, among other things, Swedish airspace have been going on for several days.
Since Sunday, more than 1,600 flights have been affected by mysterious disturbances that appear to knock out the planes’ GPS functions.
The majority of them are civilian flights and it has particularly affected flights that take place over and around the Baltic Sea, both the Daily Mail and Newsweek report.
The problem is said to be greatest in Polish airspace, but also planes flying over Sweden, Germany, Denmark, Latvia and Lithuania have reported similar disturbances.
– Airplanes are directed at false GPS signals, which quickly leads to a complete loss of navigation ability, emphasizes the OPS Group, a pilot collective in the Middle East which is also an affected region, according to Newsweek.
– This is something we have never seen before.
Suspect Russia
The GPS interference can easily have serious consequences as it can make pilots think they are in a completely different place than they actually are.
Remarkably, however, the problem appears to be minimal or even non-existent in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad as well as Belarus, a staunch ally of the Russian dictatorship.
The problem has also been seen earlier this year, and many point to Russia as possibly being responsible for the disruptions.
– Russia’s skill in using electronic warfare is quite strong, Estonian general Martin Herem emphasized to Bloomberg in January.
Significant resources
Even Lithuania can confirm that Russia’s has significant resources to cause the kind of problems that have now intensified in recent days.
– Russian armed forces have a large selection of military equipment intended for GNSS jamming (Global Navigation Satellite Systems, editor’s note), including jamming and spoofing, at different distances, and with varying duration and intensity, a Lithuanian defense source said according to the Daily Mail.
“Warning bell for NATO”
The disruptions that have been going on since Sunday should be seen as a “wake-up call” for Britain’s military, also says a leading military expert according to the British newspaper.
– Russia in particular has previously had a head start on this, says Melanie Garson, docent in international security at University College London.
– They have had the chance to use it more concretely and there is a real concern that, in particular, NATO is currently not matching that capability.
Photo J. Rosolino
Text: The editors
