What Is GPS Spoofing, Jamming In Aircraft And Is It Dangerous?

The Indian Air Force has clarified that "every mission was achieved as planned" in Myanmar after reports emerged that its aircraft faced GPS "spoofing" or "jamming" while carrying out relief operations last month in the earthquake-hit country.

The Air Force confirmed that the Mandalay International Airport had issued a NOTAM (Notice To Airmen) over the "possibility of a degraded GPS availability". The India Air Force said, "All due precautions were put in place to cater for such conditions. IAF crew are well capable to handle such unavailability, while ensuring the safety of flight and achievement of the designated task or mission. Accordingly, every mission was achieved as planned."

The possibility of degraded GPS availability was published by Mandalay International airport as NOTAM and all due precautions were put in place to cater for such conditions.

IAF crew are well capable to handle such unavailability, while ensuring safety of flight and achievement…

— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) April 14, 2025

GPS Jamming/Spoofing - Danger In The Skies

The Indian Air Force has deployed the C-17 Globemaster III heavy transport aircraft and the C-130J Hercules to provide relief material to Myanmar as part of Operation Brahma.

IAF C-17 Globemaster III transported relief material to Myanmar

Aircraft rely on the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) to know their position, often referred to as GPS or Global Positioning System. These systems use satellites to determine the position of a receiver.

In an aircraft, using Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), the received position is broadcast to ground stations, air traffic controllers or other aircraft.

GPS interference is of two types - Jamming and Spoofing. The terms may seem interchangeable, but they have a completely different impact on the aircraft.

GPS jamming involves saturating the receivers with unknown signals, rendering them useless. Jamming blocks the signals with radio interference to prevent a receiver from finding its location.

It can either happen naturally through solar storms or other natural interference, but an increasing trend is being witnessed where aircraft suffer GPS degradation in conflict-hit zones, pointing toward human interference.

The GPS signals from an aircraft travel a long distance to the receiver of the satellite, and they generally have low power. In Jamming, a transmitter, which can even fit in a hand, sends a higher or same frequency signal to the receivers in the aircraft, confusing the cockpit about the aircraft's position

GPS Spoofing is more dangerous and is purely intentional. Spoofing tricks a GPS receiver into thinking it's somewhere else by sending fake signals.

In a normal situation, the aircraft's GPS receiver gets Position, Navigation and Timing from a constellation of satellites. In spoofing, a ground-based platform sends a look-alike fake signal, which may be interpreted as valid by the receiver. These signals, when decoded, have false information and the time of the aircraft.

GPS Reception during normal ops, jamming, and spoofing.
Photo Credit: Image source: OPSGROUP

The satellite signals are of low power, therefore, the ground-based signals overpower the ones from the satellites and then decode fake information.

What Makes It Dangerous?

A report by OpsGroup, a group of professional pilots, flight dispatchers, schedulers, and controllers, flagged the issue on GPS spoofing incidents, stating that large-scale military equipment used for Electronic Warfare is being used for spoofing.

Myanmar has been facing a civil war since 2021 after the military junta seized power in a coup, triggering a conflict between rebel factions and the military. The NOTAM, which the air force referred to in its statement, meant they were informed of a potential hazard that may affect flight operations.

The biggest concern is the degraded functionality of the Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) - an advanced system in an aircraft that alerts pilots if the flight's path could put them in proximity of an obstacle like a mountain, building, etc. GPS Spoofing can confuse the cockpit, triggering false sound alarms or sometimes directing a flight toward an obstacle.

A risk of  Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) accidents, where aircraft fly into an obstacle, unaware of losing control, increases with GPS Spoofing. It can also direct the aircraft to fly in a restricted military zone or conflict-hit areas, making it vulnerable to ground attack.

The Runway Awareness and Advisory System (RAAS) is an aircraft safety system that uses GPS and onboard sensors to provide pilots with real-time audio and visual alerts about their position relative to runways and taxiways. GPS Spoofing can force it to stop functioning.

Regions Experiencing High Spoofing/Jamming

Almost all GPS Spoofing incidents are taking place in conflict-hit zones or areas with high military presence. The Electronic Warfare is aimed at targeting hostile drones that operate on GPS, but it is unclear whether civil aircraft or military planes providing relief material are deliberately targeted.

A FlightRadar24 GPS Jamming Map from yesterday showed high interference in aircraft's GPS in the Middle East, the India-Pakistan border in Punjab, eastern parts of Myanmar and war-hit regions of Russia and Ukraine.

The highest level of GPS Spoofing is concentrated in specific areas of the Middle East, covering Israel, Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon. The countries are actively involved in conflict. The region is witnessing an increased use of drones in warfare against the adversary and militant outfits relying on the unmanned aircraft to take out tactical targets. Conflict zones like Russia, Ukraine and the Black Sea region are places where a high level of GPS Spoofing/Jamming is being reported.

The first series of GPS Spoofing events took place in September 2023 in the area of northern Iraq, centered on Baghdad. Some aircraft were left unable to navigate independently after the spoofing event, requiring ATC vectors. Aircraft clocks were showing the wrong times.

In 2023, the civil aviation regulator, DGCA, stated that civilian aircraft may sometimes be flying blind over parts of the Middle East. The DGCA's advisory was aimed at alerting airlines of the nature of the threat and how to respond to it.

In March, the Parliament was informed that several airlines reported cases of GPS interference and spoofing while operating in and around Amritsar. The area is close to the border, and incidents have been reported in the past where drones from Pakistan have been used to smuggle weapons, narcotics.

The disruptions, which impact aircraft navigation systems, have been most frequent in the border regions of Amritsar and Jammu between November 2023 and February 2025.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Murlidhar Mohol, told the Lok Sabha that 465 incidents of GPS interference and spoofing were reported during this period.

These incidents involve attempts to manipulate or block GPS signals, which could mislead navigation systems used by aircraft, he said.