ISLAMABAD: The Indian government has formally acknowledged persistent GPSspoofing and Global Navigation Satellite System interference near severalof its busiest international airports, raising serious concerns about thevulnerability of civil aviation to electronic warfare tactics.
In a written reply tabled in the Rajya Sabha on December 1, Union Ministerof Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu confirmed that deliberate GNSS signaldisruptions have been recorded in the airspace around Delhi, Mumbai,Chennai, Kolkata, Amritsar, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and several other keylocations over the past year. The minister admitted that pilots operatinginto Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi have repeatedlyencountered false navigation signals, forcing them to abandon precisionapproaches and revert to conventional landing procedures.
The disclosures have triggered emergency measures within India’s aviationregulator. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has made it mandatoryfor airlines and air traffic controllers to report every jamming orspoofing incident within ten minutes of detection. Meanwhile, the AirportsAuthority of India has formally requested the Wireless MonitoringOrganisation under the Department of Telecommunications to deployspecialised teams to locate the sources of interference usingdirection-finding equipment.
Aviation sources told this correspondent that the pattern of interference,which includes both outright jamming and sophisticated spoofing that feedsfalse position data to aircraft receivers, bears the hallmarks ofstate-level electronic warfare capabilities. The incidents have occurredpredominantly along India’s western and northern borders as well as inpeninsular India, prompting heightened alert levels among security agencies.
While the minister avoided naming any country in his parliamentary reply,senior officials in New Delhi have privately indicated that intelligenceassessments point towards possible involvement of China and Pakistan inthese episodes. The assessment comes against the backdrop of escalatingborder tensions and frequent reports of Chinese electronic warfare unitsoperating along the Line of Actual Control.
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The development has exposed critical gaps in India’s ability to safeguardits navigation infrastructure against hybrid threats at a time when thecountry is aggressively expanding its fleet and airport capacity. Industryexperts warn that sustained interference could erode internationalconfidence in the safety of Indian airspace, potentially affecting airlineschedules and insurance premiums.
Source:www.thehindu.com/news/national/gps-spoofing-incidents-reported-near-delhi-other-major-airports-govt-tells-rajya-sabha/article68912457.eceog”>https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/gps-spoofing-incidents-reported-near-delhi-other-major-airports-govt-tells-rajya-sabha/article68912457.eceogimageimage-name
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