Russia 'jams signals' on Grant Shapps official RAF plane as it flew over Poland following NATO drills
14 March 2024, 14:59 | Updated: 14 March 2024, 15:02
Russia is suspected of jamming the satellite signal on an RAF aircraft carrying Grant Schapps back from Poland
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The GPS and other signals were blocked for almost 30 minutes in a "widely irresponsible" act of "electronic warfare".
Grant Shapps was travelling on the RAF’s Envoy, a Dassault 900LX, to visit troops in Mazury, a military base near the Belarus border, when the aircraft’s pilots lost access to the GPS.
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Mobile phones could no longer connect to the internet and the aircraft was forced to use alternative methods to determine its location.
The aircraft was passing by Kaliningrad, a Russian territory between Poland and Lithuania, on Wednesday morning when the attack happened.
On the return flight Russia blocked the system again, this time for 30 minutes, as Mr Shapps, who was accompanied by journalists, flew back to London on Wednesday evening.
It is unclear if Shapps himself would have been deliberately targeted, although the flight path was visible to aircraft tracking websites.
Shapps, who has been defence secretary since August, had just accused President Putin of “sabre-rattling” and acting irresponsibly by saying Moscow was ready for a nuclear war.
This is not the first time Russia has targeted RAF aircrafts.In 2021 RAF planes flying from Cyprus were subject to routine GPS jamming by Russia.
Typhoon and F-35 fighter jets, A400M transport aircraft and Voyager troop planes were all attacked as they flew in and out of RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, a major base for the British military.
Defence sources have said that Russia’s pattern of behaviour was typical of being able to antagonise other nations without using direct violence.
This year Finland, Norway and Poland have all warned Russia's jamming of GPS was not only affecting military units but airlines and air ambulance services.The practice has been regarded as an almost daily occurrence when transiting near the Russian border.
