Satellite navigation aids on the aircraft carrying European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen were allegedly jammed, delaying the charter flight to Plovdiv and forcing the plane to circle for an hour. EU member states are debating measures to protect leaders' flights as GPS jamming and spoofing have increased since Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion, escalating in the past year. Italy is considering classifying state flights, reducing published movement information and blocking specialised tracking sites from showing paths. Defence minister Guido Crosetto previously proposed secrecy measures. Several jamming incidents have been reported near Russia, prompting international flight suspensions and concern.
Italy is considering keeping state flights secret after the satellite signal of the aircraft carrying the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, was allegedly jammed by Russia, Italian defence ministry sources said. Von der Leyen, a fierce critic of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and Moscow's war in Ukraine, was flying to Bulgaria on Sunday when her charter plane lost satellite navigation aids, delaying its arrival in Plovdiv, and reportedly forcing it to circle an airport for an hour.
Following the incident, EU member states are debating how to make leaders' flights more secure, as GPS jamming and spoofing, an electronic warfare tactic that causes incorrect navigation information to be displayed, have increased since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and escalated even more sharply in the past year. Defence officials said Rome was weighing plans to classify state flights, minimise the information published on the website of the prime minister's office and prevent specialised tracking sites from making aircraft paths visible.
Italy's defence minister, Guido Crosetto, first floated this proposal several months ago when interference with satellite navigation started becoming increasingly common in airspace near Russia. In August, Latvia's electronic communications office said it had identified at least three jamming hotspots along borders with Russia. In April 2024, a Finnish airline temporarily suspended flights to the Estonian city of Tartu after jamming, while in March that year a plane carrying the British defence secretary had its satellite signal jammed as it flew near Russian territory.
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