Hundreds of RAF flights had GPS jammed by Russia.

Russia has jammed the GPS on hundreds of RAF flights over Eastern Europe this year, The Telegraph can reveal.

More than one in four transport and surveillance flights in the first four months of 2024 were subject to GPS [global positioning system] interference, analysis of data from thousands of flights has shown.

Detailed analysis shows how the indiscriminate jamming can threaten the safety of military and civil flights alike, experts said, demonstrates the extent of Russia’s interference with aviation.

Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, said: “This is another example of Russia’s recklessness and more evidence that they are an out-of-control hostile state.

“Thankfully our planes and pilots can see off this threat but it illustrates president Putin’s contempt for the West and for the international rules-based order.”

Ian Petchenik, a spokesman for Flight Radar 24, which shared the flight data with The Telegraph, said: “GPS jamming can create substantial headaches for operators, disrupting navigation systems and increasing pilot workload in congested airspace near conflict zones. Mitigating these risks is essential to air safety.”

In March, an RAF jet carrying Mr Shapps home from Poland had its GPS jammed by Russia.

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

The Telegraph’s analysis of data from Flight Radar 24 looked at flights carried out by 63 RAF aircraft between Jan 1 and April 30, totalling 1.467 journeys across Eastern Europe and the Middle East. 45,7% of the flights in the Middle East, 28,7% in Eastern Europe and 16,4% were impacted by patterns associated with GPS jamming.

Read more

🇪🇺EU_Report 🇬🇧