The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has published an updated safety information bulletin (SIB No.: 2022-02R2) to address continuing global navigation satellite system (GNSS) jamming and spoofing incidents.
“EASA has analysed recent data from the network of analysts and open sources and has concluded that GNSS jamming and/or spoofing has shown further increase in the severity of its impact, as well as an overall growth of intensity and sophistication of these events,” the agency explained. Jamming incidents disable GNSS receivers, while spoofing creates counterfeit GNSS signals that cause receivers to compute incorrect position information. This can cause temporary or non-recoverable failures of position information, resulting in inconsistent flight guidance; loss or misleading surveillance system (corrupted ADS-B, TAWS false “pull-up” alerts, wind shear, terrain, and other surface functionalities); loss or misleading time-dependent systems such as clock, fuel computation, and FMS; and inconsistent, potentially misleading position or groundspeed and wind speed on navigation displays.
According to the bulletin, jamming and spoofing have occurred in the Black Sea, south and eastern Mediterranean, Baltic Sea, and Arctic areas.
Although EASA doesn’t consider this a formal “unsafe condition,” it did list a series of recommendations for civil aviation authorities, air traffic providers, air operators, and aircraft and equipment manufacturers. EASA also noted, “All parties concerned are reminded of their obligations to report any event impacting safety…”