Sweden says Russia behind surge in GPS jamming over Baltic Sea

[ad_1] Sweden has accused Russia of being behind a big rise in situations of GPS sign jamming recorded over the Baltic Sea, elevating issues for aviation within the area.

The Swedish Transport Company (STA) stated experiences of disruptions have risen over the previous few years, however had now turn into an virtually day by day prevalence. It recorded 733 incidents to this point in 2025, up from 55 throughout the entire of 2023.

The company stated the supply of the interference had been traced to Russian territory, and likewise affected delivery. Different European nations have accused Russia of being behind the jamming, which Moscow denies.

The STA report comes days after a airplane carrying Ursula von der Leyen was hit by interference.

The pilots of the European Fee president's airplane reportedly needed to land utilizing paper maps, however did so safely.

Andreas Holmgren, the STA's head of aviation, warned the problem was "critical" and posed "a security danger for civil aviation".

In addition to seeing an enormous improve in experiences, he stated situations of jamming had unfold "each geographically and in scope", going from being initially restricted to the jap elements of Swedish airspace over worldwide waters to Swedish land and waters.

Airways working within the Baltic area have reported tens of hundreds of GPS jamming incidents previously few years. The Baltic states are bookended by Russian territory.

In June, Sweden and 5 different nations within the area - Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland - raised the problem with the Council of the Worldwide Civil Aviation Group (ICAO), of which Russia is a member state.

The ICAO Council expressed "nice concern in regards to the state of affairs and is demanding that Russia fulfil its worldwide obligations and be certain that the disturbances stop instantly".

Regardless of this, disruptions within the Baltic Sea area "have as a substitute elevated", it added.

European governments and specialists repeatedly blame Russia, claiming such practices match with an alleged Kremlin technique to typically sow dysfunction and undermine European safety.

Moscow repeatedly denies accusations of interference or assaults on business aviation. No confirmed hyperlink has but been established between Russia and the rise in GPS jamming.

Von der Leyen's airplane had been heading to Bulgaria on Sunday when its onboard telemetry was disrupted as a consequence of what a spokesperson described as "blatant interference by Russia".

The European Fee stated the incident solely strengthened its dedication to "ramp up our defence capabilities and assist for Ukraine".

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov advised the Monetary Occasions, which reported on the suspected jamming, that its data was "incorrect".

Bulgaria's aviation authority stated there had been a "noticeable improve" in GPS incidents for the reason that begin of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Whereas planes can depend on different types of navigation than GPS, jamming it mid-flight can improve the chance of collisions - both with different planes or by inflicting the pilot to unintentionally fly into the bottom, water or different impediment.

However the UK's Civil Aviation Authority has performed down the importance of GPS jamming, says aircrafts' navigation programs don't rely solely on GPS and so interference mustn't have an effect on their direct navigation.

It provides that interference happens primarily close to battle zones as a by-product of army exercise, fairly than essentially being a deliberate act.

The STA's figures for 2025 cowl as much as 28 August. Whereas they embody each Swedish and non-Swedish airways, the company cautions that they're thought of to be important underestimates of the variety of reported incidents, as airways usually report incidents to their very own nation's aviation authority.