GPS Spoofing: Electronic Warfare Against U.S. Aircraft
I explore GPS jamming and spoofing on American aircraft and the January 2024, FAA issued Safety Alert (SAFO) for spoofing activities. Israel spoofing airliners and business jets into Iran's airspace.
For far too long it has been easy for our government to lie about electronic warfare by blaming pilot or mechanic error and now DEI.
But the UH-60 Black Hawk colliding into the commercial airliner has some interesting pieces of information that doesn’t make sense unless one accounts for GPS spoofing and/or hacking avionics via radio frequencies.
The Black Hawk had veered off course before flying almost double the altitude ceiling allowed for the Potomac River.
The midair collision occurred at 325 feet, but data available to the air traffic controllers showed the helicopter was at 200 feet near the time of the accident. That discrepancy is going to need an explanation.
Both pilot and co-pilot have access to the flight controls and neither noticed they were at the wrong altitude nor tried to maneuver away from the jet.
The pilots and crew were part of a specialized aviation unit tasked with flying high level DOD personnel and ‘continuity of government’ operations during emergencies.
Could it be pilot or mechanical error? Of course.
But is it following a pattern we’ve seen of GPS jamming and spoofing during the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East? Yes.
What is GPS Jamming and Spoofing?
I am not a techie, so I’m going to let this excerpt from Haaretz explain it:
The GPS receiver on a cellphone, airplane, ship or vehicle receives signals from several satellites at the same time and uses them to calculate its own exact location and altitude. Similar receivers are also found on cruise missiles and drones and are used to guide them to their target. A military organization interested in disrupting such an attack can powerfully transmit on the relevant frequency range to prevent the GPS receiver from receiving any satellite signal, thereby totally disrupting its functionality.
Remember in my last Substack, I mentioned using radio frequencies to remotely hack airplanes from even air-gapped computers not connected to the internet?
Another tactic is spoofing. By transmitting a signal that simulates the authentic satellite signal, the GPS receiver can be “hijacked”. Once the receiver locks on to the fake signal, the disrupter “feeds” the GPS receiver with fake data, causing it to calculate and display a completely incorrect position and altitude – up to dozens, and even hundreds of kilometers off its true location. That is what many Israelis experienced over the last week, apparently as a result of an attempt to prevent Hezbollah’s GPS-guided drones from crossing deep into Israel.
U.S. Senators Write to Homeland Security About GPS Disruptions
It wasn’t until December 19, 2024, U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and James Lankford (R-OK) wrote to the Department of Homeland Security calling for information on its efforts to protect critical infrastructure and public safety from GPS disruptions. I guess better late than never?
“GPS technology has become an integral part of our nation’s critical infrastructure,” wrote the Senators. “GPS disruptions could affect the delivery of critical community services provided by multiple government and commercial entities, and could lead to cascading detrimental economic, public safety, and security effects.”
“We are concerned that the United States is lagging in its efforts to prepare for a potential GPS outage when compared to the efforts of our adversaries,” continued the Senators. “Reporting from the New York Times indicates that China is investing in land-based alternatives to GPS, including by building hundreds of physical timing stations and laying thousands of miles of fiber-optic cables… We are also concerned by steps that international competitors have taken to challenge U.S. leadership in position, navigation, and timing capabilities.”
Spoofed GPS Signals are Spreading Beyond Active Conflict Zones
The attacks started affecting a large number of commercial flights after the war in Ukraine began.
Modern airliners’ heavy reliance on GPS means that fake data can cascade through cockpit systems, creating glitches that last for a few minutes or an entire flight. Pilots have reported clocks resetting to earlier times, false warnings and misdirected flight paths, according to anonymized reports shared with government and industry groups.
Aviation-safety officials said spoofing has disrupted some flights but hasn’t posed major safety risks. While pilots are trained on how to use non-GPS navigation systems as a backup, managing the bogus GPS signals and alerts risks dividing pilots’ attention if a more serious problem strikes.
Commercial Airlines have been meeting with aircraft makers, suppliers and regulators to develop short-term fixes and longer-term solutions to harden civilian aircraft against spoofing.
Pilots are meanwhile getting preflight briefings about how to identify potential spoofing and respond—which may at times include turning off certain features or ignoring false “pull up!” commands from a safety system heralded for sharply reducing crashes.
Pilots in some cases have pulled up unnecessarily, according to industry officials. Other aircraft systems, including pilot messaging services, have been thrown off when cockpits draw false time and position data from spoofed signals.
Researchers said the volume of faked GPS signals has surged over the past six months. Most spoofing attacks come from powerful electronic-warfare transmitters in Russia, Ukraine and Israel, said Todd Humphreys, a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Hand-held devices can also spoof GPS signals in a smaller area…
The FAA Covered Up Dallas-Fort Worth GPS Spoofing
On October 17, 2022, GPS interference disrupted air traffic at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. The FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center issued an advisory about GPS anomalies “dramatically impacting GPS (RNAV [area navigation]) arrival and GPS SID [Standard Instrument Departure] routes for all airports in D10 airspace [Dallas-Fort Worth Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) area].” The advisory went on to say: “This was unplanned and the cause is yet unknown” and runway “RY 35R is unusable at this time due to the GPS anomalies” Pilots had to rely on conventional navigation systems for their approaches for about two days. The FAA found no proof of “intentional interference” and continues to examine the cause.
Spoofing a Private Jet into Iran’s Airspace
A spoofed GPS signal in September 2023 nearly sent a private Embraer jet into the airspace of Iran—without clearance. GPS spoofing from an “unknown” source in the Middle East area caused complete aircraft navigational system failures in some commercial airliners and business jets.
Someone In the Middle East is Leading Aircraft Astray by Spoofing GPS Signals | Forbes | Sep 28, 2023
A flight data intelligence crowdsourcing website called OPSGROUP began reporting incidents of GPS navigation signals spoofing on Monday. The site claims to have a membership of 8,000 pilots, flight dispatchers, schedulers, and controllers.
According to OPSGROUP, commercial and business aircraft using Airway UMB688 in northern Iraq (a major airway utilized by traffic routing between Europe and the Middle East) have experienced complete navigation system failures after receiving spoofed GPS broadcasts. They appear to have broader cyber components than just the replacement of position data beamed by the GPS signals with false coordinates.
Yes, that “Someone” was Israel GPS spoofing in Iran and Lebanon.
Thank you Haaretz for telling the truth unlike your Crime Minister Netanyahu and his Likud mafiosos.
Israel GPSJAM GPS/GNSS Interference Map | GPSJAM.ORG
An FAA Safety Alert for GPS Jamming and Spoofing!
On January 25, 2024, FAA issued a Safety Alert for Operators (SAFO) that GPS jamming and spoofing activities are occurring “…in and around conflict zones, military operation areas, and counter unmanned aircraft systems protection… pose a potential safety of flight risk to civil aviation.” The SAFO highlights the impacts of these disruptions, “…potential loss of situational awareness and an increase of pilot and Air Traffic Control (ATC) workload issues.”
Background: Recent GPS/GNSS jamming and spoofing activities reported by civil air operators operating globally pose a potential safety of flight risk to civil aviation. GPS/GNSS disruptions often occur in and around conflict zones, military operations areas, and areas of counter unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) protection. The term GNSS includes satellite augmentation systems. The recent jamming and spoofing incidents may pose increased safety of flight risks due to possible loss of situational awareness and increased pilot and regional Air Traffic Control (ATC) workload issues. Due to the increasing frequency of GPS/GNSS disruptions, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recommends flightcrews put additional emphasis on closely monitoring aircraft equipment performance for any discrepancies or anomalies, promptly informing ATC of any apparent GPS/GNSS degradation, and being prepared to operate without GPS/GNSS navigation systems.
Discussion: The effects of GPS/GNSS jamming and/or spoofing have been observed by crews in various phases of flight. In some cases, these effects led to re-routing or diversions, due to the inability to perform safe instrument procedures. The magnitude of the issues generated by these disruptions would depend upon the impacted area, the duration of the event, type of aircraft, type of avionics, and the phase of flight of the affected aircraft.
The impacts of GPS/GNSS interference, jamming, and spoofing:
Our government has never been fully transparent about the extent of electronic warfare against American commercial airliners, private jets, and military aircraft. For too long they have placed the economic interests of corporations over the lives and safety of the American public.
President Trump blaming the UH-60 Black Hawk collision on “DEI” is only going to hurt him politically. He truly is his own worst enemy. We already have a military recruiting crisis and blaming the female pilot (without evidence) is only going to harm the Army aviation community and military morale. Women make up over 17% of active-duty military and are an integral part of our forces.
I will be keeping an eye on the story as more information is forth coming. You can follow me on X.com @DCinTejas—my DMs are always open—or email me at DCinTejas@proton.me. If you email just DM me, so I know to check it. Thanks! I’m now on Instagram (@divided.conquered).
-DeAnna Calderón
Extra Reading on GPS Spoofing:
GPS jammed on commercial flight over Atlantic for the first time | The Telegraph | June 20, 2024
A plane’s GPS was jammed on a commercial transatlantic route for the first time, raising fears thousands of other flights are at risk of being deliberately hacked.
The flight from Madrid to Toronto is likely to have been deliberately targeted rather than being accidentally caught in the “usual spillover” of electronic warfare, one analyst said.
The suspected cyber attack happened in the northeastern Atlantic when a pilot reported being blocked from ascending to a higher altitude because the GPS (global positioning system) of the aircraft above them had been jammed, according to the Institute for the Study of War think tank.
The cause of the jamming has not yet been identified, but GPS jamming has been recently reported over Poland and the Baltic region and attributed to Russian electronic warfare.
Commercial aircraft navigation systems compromised by spoofing attacks | TechSpot | November 21, 2023
Commercial Flights Are Experiencing 'Unthinkable' GPS Attacks and Nobody Knows What to Do | Vice News | November 20, 2023
GPSIA Statement on GNSS Disruptions | GPS Innovation Alliance | February 14, 2024
Understanding Cyber Threats to Avionics and Aircraft Systems | Aerospace Defense & Review | December 4, 2024
Incredible article about spoofing. Thanks so much for posting this one!
60 minutes quote from masked Israeli agent......"We create a pretend world. We are a global production company. We write the screenplay, we're the directors, we're the producers, we're the main actors. The world is our stage." He forgot one more....We did 9/11