It appears that aircraft attempting to land at the Israeli’s Ben Gurion airport at Tel Aviv have been suffering some form of GPS interference since the start of the month. The source if the interference is still being investigated but the finger is being pointed at Russia given they use electronic jamming technologies at their Hmeimim airbase in Syria to protect their planes. This military base is about 350km (217 miles) to the North of the city however this is plausible given it only affects planes in the air.
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Fortunately, it has not caused any accidents or safety issues, and the pilots are currently using alternative Instrument Landing Systems when approaching and landing at the airport. However, it is causing some disruption. Naturally, Russia is dismissing any assertion as the now widely coined “fake news”, but it may well be that it is an unintended consequence of their Hmeimim defences, but of course the recent US report on the subject does identify that Russia is the pioneers in GPS spoofing technology – which is at play here. Who knows, but it is hard to see what Russia would have to gain from doing this deliberately so hope it is sorted quickly and never becomes the source of any safety issue.
