Russia ‘jams’ defence secretary’s plane in terrifying mid-air sabotage | UK | News
An RAF jet carrying Britain’s defense minister was allegedly hit by Russian electronic warfare while in flight. The Dassault Falcon 900LX aircraft was flying close to the Russian border when its satellite signal suddenly dropped.
During John Healey’s return flight from Estonia, where he was visiting British soldiers, the jet’s GPS stopped working and laptops and smartphones were unable to connect to the internet. Pilots had to resort to backup navigation systems to determine their location and fly the plane back safely.
But a defense source said: Times this was a “reckless” Russian intervention. They said that although the RAF was “well prepared” to deal with such situations it could have the potential to affect civilian aircraft. It is unclear whether the defense minister was deliberately targeted.
In addition to political and military advisors, there were also a three-star lieutenant general, two photographers and a reporter on board.
GPS jamming equipment works by transmitting radio “noise” on the same frequency as GPS satellites, over-amplifying relatively weak satellite signals so that the GPS receiver is unable to calculate its location. Electronic attacks can be carried out from aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles or vehicles on the ground.
The interference is believed to have started when the plane was close to Russian territory, but it affected the entire flight because the only way to reset the system is to restart the jet, which is not possible while in flight.
Mr Healey was receiving briefings at a secret location in Estonia with units of the 4th Light Brigade, nicknamed the Black Rats. They are among thousands of soldiers positioned to deter possible intervention by Russian troops 25 miles away.
The Black Rats have developed drone warfare capabilities similar to Ukraine’s front-line forces and are authorized to deploy new fixed-wing kamikaze drones that can operate without GPS and are resistant to electronic jamming.
Mr Healey said he was “working” to provide British forces with more equipment to defend the border after being informed they had less than a fifth of the first-person perspective drones needed.
