Summary
- Business and personal jets flying over Iran have been affected by GPS signal spoofing, causing them to veer astray. That is the primary time passenger flights have been targeted to such a complicated degree.
- GPS signal spoofing occurs when counterfeit radio signals override legitimate GPS signals, resulting in navigation system failures and pilots counting on ATC for assist in identifying their exact location.
- While GPS jamming is more common and simply recognized by pilots, spoofing is harder to detect because the aircraft’s GPS receiver accepts the false signals and redirects the plane accordingly. The FAA has issued a warning for flights over Baghdad as a consequence of these incidents.
Over the past two weeks, greater than 20 business and personal jets flying over Iran have strayed astray after being led off route by deceptive GPS signals sent from the bottom. These signals overpowered the jet’s navigation systems and affected multiple aircraft, including Boeing 777s, 737s, and 747s.
Veering astray
In a report by the OPS Group, which focuses on flight safety, a targeted 777 was so astray that the crew asked Baghdad Air Traffic Control, “What time is it, and where are we?” The location, which claims to have a membership of 8,000 flight dispatchers, controllers, pilots, and shoulders, began reporting incidents of GPS navigation signal spoofing on September twenty fifth.
In line with the OPS Group report, most of those 20 instances occurred in flights flying along airway UMB688 in northern Iraq, a big airway between the Middle East and Europe. One business jet almost entered Iranian airspace without clearance.
Photo: Skycolors/Shutterstock
The reason for that is GPS signal spoofing, a kind of cyber attack created to steer people or goods astray. Although GPS signal interference has been around for a very long time, that is the primary time business passenger flights have been targeted to such a complicated degree. GPS signal spoofing occurs when a counterfeit radio signal is distributed to a receiver antenna to override a legitimate GPS satellite signal. A report by the OPS Group stated:
“OPSGROUP has now received [Multiple] separate reports, and normally, the [Inertial Reference System] becomes unusable, VOR/DME sensor inputs fail, the aircraft UTC clock fails, and the crew has been forced to request vectors from ATC to navigate.”
In consequence of the navigation system failure, pilots are forced to hunt help from ATC to know the precise aircraft location.
Latest interference
Although such a GPS signal interference has been around for a very long time, that is the primary time passenger flights have been targeted to such a big degree. GPS jamming, a more common occurrence, especially on long-haul flights, shouldn’t be a dangerous spoofing, and pilots have learned methods to recognize it and deal with it.
When flickering readings immediately reveal that the GPS signal is being jammed, it has grow to be commonplace on long-haul flights, especially on flights over Russia heading East. Pilots have multiple checklists and have undergone training on methods to handle jamming. For one, they depend on the plane’s navigation system, which doesn’t take any data from the GPS.
Photo: Paparacy/Shutterstock
Nonetheless, spoofing is far harder to identify because the aircraft’s GPS receiver is unaware that it’s reading false GPS signals. The aircraft’s flight management system will accept the fake GPS signal and redirect the plane to the intended flight plan.
Warning issued
In response to the incidents, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a NOTAM (Notice to Air Men) for flights flying over Baghdad, Iraq, as these airway routes are considered to be sensitive areas by Iran.
Iran has two large military bases just off the airway route, one within the western city of Kermanshah with dedicated anti-aircraft weapons and one other within the central city of Khorramabad. For context, in 2020, Iran mistakenly shot down Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737, killing the nine crew and 167 passengers aboard, and in September, threatened to shoot down an aircraft entering Iranian airspace without clearance.