OpsGroup is sounding the alarm once again on instances of GPS spoofing, this time in various locations over the eastern Mediterranean, Egypt, and on approach to Amman, Jordan. In these cases, the aircraft have shown a false position of being over Ben Gurion International Airport (LLBG) in Tel Aviv even though they were as far as 212 nm away from the area.
The reports of GPS spoofing—under which aircraft receive false GPS positioning information—follow just weeks after the operations and security specialist warned of fake GPS signals reported from nearly two dozen aircraft flying along the Airway UM688 in Iraq along the Iranian border. In many of those cases, aircraft lost navigational capabilities and ended up miles from their intended route.
Under the latest OpsGroup warning, GPS spoofing has more recently occurred along the Nicosia FIR (flight information region) and Amman FIR. “The industry appears to still be coming to terms with the problem. No useful operational guidance has been issued to date by the FAA, EASA, or any of the OEMs,” OpsGroup said in reporting the events on Monday evening.
OpsGroup provided examples of reports, including a Boeing 777 southeast bound from the Nicosia/Cairo FIR boundary that received positioning information that it was stationary over LLBG for a 30-minute period even though the aircraft was 137 nm away. Similarly, an Airbus A330 southbound about 30 nm to Cairo VOR had proper positioning information, but a moving map showed the aircraft stationary over LLBG. The aircraft was 212 nm from that location.
Further, a Bombardier Challenger 350 on an RNAV approach into Amman, Jordan, reported, “Lots of jamming as usual. Spoofing was new for us. All systems including IRS were confused about location,” according to OpsGroup.
“Please make your crews flying in the Middle East and Mediterranean region aware of these GPS events, which can have a sudden and severe impact on navigation capability,” the organization warned.