The Times: Russia jammed GPS navigation of plane carrying British defense minister

Russian electronic warfare equipment jammed satellite communications on board a Royal Air Force aircraft carrying British Defense Secretary John Healy.

This is reported by The Times.

John Healy was returning home from a visit to British troops stationed in southeastern Estonia when the government plane lost its satellite signal. The planeʼs GPS did not work for the entire three-hour journey back.

Laptops and smartphones were unable to connect to the internet, and pilots had to use backup inertial navigation systems to determine their location. The obstruction also partially disabled the aircraftʼs cockpit instrument panel.

It is believed that the planeʼs GPS was only disabled at the beginning of its route, near Russian territory. However, it was not possible to restore the satellite signal without a complete restart of the planeʼs systems, which cannot be done in the air. One of the pilots said that he had not encountered such a situation "in a very long time".

A defence source called the incident a "reckless" Russian intervention that could potentially affect civil aviation, but stressed that the Royal Air Force was "well prepared for such situations".

It is not known whether the defense minister was deliberately targeted, but the planeʼs route was available on flight tracking websites. GPS jamming equipment can be used by Russian aircraft and drones, although it is most often placed on ground equipment.

In 2024, Russia was also suspected of jamming the GPS of then-Defense Secretary Grant Shappsʼ plane for about 30 minutes while it was flying near the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea.

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