According to a defense expert, more frequent jamming of the GPS signal is to be expected since NATO operates in Nordic member countries of the alliance.
According to a defense expert, we will have to expect more GPS signal disruptions in the Scandinavian countries, given that NATO is carrying out operations in this area, while more than 20,000 troops have left the region at the following an “expanded” military exercise this week.
Jagannath Panda of the Swedish Institute for Security and Development Policy said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) latest exercise could help alliance member countries prepare the future.
“The jamming strategy is a wake-up call to Scandinavian countries on how to coordinate, respond and react quickly,” he added in an interview with Euronews Next.
GPS signal jamming involves using a frequency transmitting device to block radio communications that govern everything from phone calls to air rescue services to WiFi.
In recent months, local media in Scandinavian countries have reported an increase in episodes of signal blocking in aviation, for which they suspect Russia of being behind the maneuver.
Busy week for NATO in Northern Europe
A particularly busy week has just ended for NATO, as the organization’s leaders gathered in Brussels to raise the Swedish flag for the first time.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at the ceremony that Sweden’s accession to NATO showed that “the door remains open”.
“No one can shut up,” continued Jens Stoltenberg. “Every state has the right to choose its own path, and we all choose the path of freedom and democracy.”
Nearly 20,000 troops also completed Operation Nordic Defense this week, one of the missions of Operation Steadfast Defender 24, which the organization called the largest military exercise since the Cold War. .
The exercise “aims to address security challenges”, we can read on the NATO website.
NATO has operated in the Norwegian Arctic since 2006, where it holds cold reaction exercises for its troops every two years.
This year, the mission has grown, bringing soldiers, more than 50 ships and more than 110 aircraft to the Arctic region.
NATO maneuvers send “strong signal to Russia”
“The blocking of the GPS signal in the Arctic is not new, Jagannath Panda told Euronews Next. What is,” he continued, “is the number of attacks that have started to accelerate in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and currently, in response to NATO enlargement.
“The expansion and intensification of the maneuvers “sends a very strong signal to Russia,” said Jagannath Panda. “Jamming the GPS signal could be a strategy by Russia to intimidate NATO countries.”
During this exercise, Nordic NATO members set up a temporary air operations center, where 300 officers planned, controlled and evaluated air operations within a defined “area of operations”.
“The establishment of the Northern Emporial Air Operations Center is further tangible proof of our ability to cooperate within our shared function of deterrence and, ultimately, defense of NATO’s northern flank,” said Colonel Henrik Nielsen, Chief of Staff of the Danish Air Command, in a NATO press release published on Tuesday.
The organization did not wish to answer any questions.
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said in a statement that Moscow would react to Sweden’s NATO membership, but the form that reaction would take “would depend on the practical steps taken by Stockholm.” to implement its new membership.
ADVERTISEMENTZakharova’s statement did not specify what steps Sweden should or could take, but noted that there was no referendum by the Swedish people on NATO membership.
GPS signal blocking is difficult to predict: example in Finland
While local press reported that all Nordic countries have experienced an increase in GPS signal blockages in recent months, transport authorities in Sweden and Norway did not respond to interview requests.
The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (TRAFICOM), meanwhile, told Euronews Next that it had seen an increase in the number of blocking reports in the aviation sector since the start of the year.
These types of interference, according to the agency’s statement, are “observed at higher altitudes, are short-lived and therefore difficult to verify after the fact or prevent.”
TRAFICOM nevertheless maintains that flights are safe because “airlines have operating procedures to handle situations in which the GPS signal would be lost.”
ADVERTISEMENTOther phases of flight, such as the final approach to land, do not require a GPS signal.
