Russia jammed the GPS signal of a plane carrying the British Defence Secretary near its border — media reports
The Times reports this.
When the attack took place, Gili was returning to the UK from Estonia, where he had been visiting British soldiers taking part in NATO military exercises near the Russian border.
As a result, smartphones and laptops on the Dassault Falcon 900LX aircraft were unable to connect to the internet, and the pilots had to use ‘backup’ inertial navigation systems to determine their location, as the aircraft’s GPS was not working.
The interference also caused malfunctions in some of the instruments on the cockpit control panel of the aircraft, which is flown by, among others, King Charles III. The signal problems persisted throughout the entire three-hour flight of Gili’s aircraft after it flew near the Russian border.
It is currently unknown whether the aircraft carrying Gili was attacked deliberately, but this is not the first such incident in which Russia has been blamed. In 2024, a Royal Air Force aircraft carrying the then Defence Secretary Grant Shapps also lost its GPS signal whilst flying near Russian territory.
And last September, a number of publications claimed that the aircraft carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen lost its electronic navigation systems whilst approaching a city airport in Bulgaria, so after an hour of circling the airport, the pilot decided to land the aircraft manually, using analogue maps.
The map theory was later refuted, but the incident was interpreted as Russian interference.
It should be recalled that it was previously reported that European governments fear that Vladimir Putin may use the next year or two as a “window of opportunity” to test the West’s readiness to defend NATO.
Follow us on Telegram
