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The Spanish military jet carrying the defense minister on Wednesday suffered a “blocking” of GPS on Wednesday, according to the government.
The A330 jet was flying through Kaliningrad on its way to Lithuania Wednesday morning, when the incident happened, according to the Spanish Ministry of Defense.
Defense Minister Margarita Robles had competed on a flight that had been relocated to Siauliai Base in Lithuania, part of NATO’s Aviation Police Mission. It was also equipped with Spanish military relatives deployed to bases and journalists, local media said.
According to Spanish newspaper El Mundo, the aircraft receives signals from military satellites, so obvious attempts to destroy the plane’s GPS had no effect on flight.
Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in Moscow in February 2022, many such cases have been recorded and condemned by Western officials in Russia.
This year, Scandinavian and Baltic countries, including Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania, have repeatedly warned of significant interference in electronic interference from Russia that disrupt communication with planes, ships and drones.
Moscow claims that jamming is defensive to protect cities and military infrastructure from drone attacks in Ukraine, but Baltic officials say the depth of electronic interference has increased, causing the failure of voyages far from Russia’s boundaries.
Earlier this month, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rozen Ziyazkov ordered aviation authorities to further investigate what happened in the flight carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen amid allegations of confusion due to GPS jamming.
The committee said it remains in its position as questions have grown about what happened exactly when von der Leyen’s plane lost satellite GPS signals through Bulgaria on suspicion of Russian business. The plane safely landed at Plovdiv Airport in Bulgaria.
