On May 21, when British Defense Minister John Healey was flying home from Estonia — where he was observing NATO exercises near the Russian border — a Royal Air Force Dassault Falcon 900LX aircraft lost GPS navigation for three hours. The pilots switched to a backup system. Passengers, including journalists and photographers, were told that safety was not at risk.
The flight route was available in real-time on public tracking websites. Whether the aircraft was an intentional target remains unknown.
Not the First Time and Not by Chance
In March 2024, the same happened to the previous British Defense Minister Grant Shapps: his aircraft experienced spoofing — coordinate falsification — near Kaliningrad. In September 2025, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's aircraft was forced to land using paper maps due to GPS interference over Bulgaria.
"This is irresponsible Russian interference, but the Royal Air Force is well-prepared for such activity"
— source in the British Defense Ministry, The Times
According to Euronews, citing a letter from May 2025, ministers from 13 EU countries have documented that GPS jamming in the Baltic Sea region has been conducted since 2022, primarily from Russia and Belarus, with the number of aircraft incidents sharply increasing after August 2024. Lithuania registered over 1,000 cases of interference in June — 22 times more than a year earlier. Latvia recorded 820 cases in 2024 compared to 26 in 2022.
Where the Signal Comes From
According to David Staplles, professor of electronic and radio engineering at City University London, Russia has jamming bases in Kaliningrad and along the borders with Baltic countries — regions with heavy concentrations of electronic warfare units. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte called such actions part of a "comprehensive campaign" with potentially catastrophic consequences.
How Dangerous Is It Really
GPS jamming is critical in three scenarios: poor weather, nighttime, and dense airspace. According to aviation safety expert Teg Westbrook, such a combination of circumstances occurs in less than 1% of flights — but that is precisely when the consequences could be most severe. The Swedish Maritime Administration has already officially warned sailors to switch to radar and landmarks instead of satellite navigation. Finland is developing a device to counter jamming.
Russia officially explains the interference as protection of its own infrastructure from Ukrainian drones. Bulgaria's prime minister, after the incident with von der Leyen, called the jamming a "side effect of war." However, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, and Germany have officially classified such actions as a form of hybrid warfare.
The question is no longer whether Russia is jamming GPS over the Baltic — it is a documented fact. The question is at how many incidents involving NATO civilian or government aircraft will NATO transition from statements to a technical response — including the deployment of alternative navigation systems that do not depend on satellite signals.
