EASA has updated its warning to aircraft operators about the dangers posed by interference to navigation systems caused by spoofing and jamming of signals. On Friday, the European aviation safety agency published the third edition of its safety information bulletin (SIB) on global navigation satellite system outages and alterations leading to communication, navigation, and surveillance degradation, underlining heightened threats in airspace around conflict zones.
In a bid to offer more timely information about threats, EASA has also established a new dedicated platform to update operators on GNSS system outages and alterations in impacted flight information regions (FIRs). Currently, the FIRs of most immediate concern are in the southern and eastern Mediterranean Sea and the Middle East, around the Black Sea, in parts of Eastern Europe, and the Baltic Sea and Arctic region.
Jamming blocks signals used by navigation systems, and spoofing sends false information to the receiver onboard an aircraft. The latest EASA guidance updates an earlier SIB issued in November and includes specific recommendations for regulators, air traffic management and air navigation service providers, and aircraft operators.
To guard against jamming, operators are urged to verify their aircraft’s position using means other than a GNSS, report anomalies, train crew, and make non-GNSS procedures available. For spoofing, EASA recommends using non-GNSS navaids, closely monitoring air traffic control frequencies, and reporting irregularities.