GPS is vulnerable to jamming-here's how we might fix it

"In September 2025, a Widerøe Airlines flight was trying to land in Vardø, Norway, which sits in the country's far eastern arm, some 40 miles from the Russian coast. The cloud deck was low, and so was visibility. In such gray situations, pilots use GPS technology to help them land on a runway and not the side of a mountain."

"But on this day, GPS systems weren't working correctly, the airwaves jammed with signals that prevented airplanes from accessing navigation information. The Widerøe flight had taken off during one of Russia's frequent wargames, in which the country's military simulates conflict as a preparation exercise. This one involved an imaginary war with a country. It was nicknamed Zapad-2025-translating to "West-2025"-and was happening just across the fjord from Vardø."

"It's one of the starkest geographic examples of how vulnerable GPS technology is. But such disturbances happen at a lower level all over the globe. The world's militaries (including that of the United States) are big culprits, breaking out devices that can confuse or disrupt drones, missiles, and aircraft. But the equipment required to interfere with GPS at a less-than-military level is"

A Widerøe Airlines flight aborted a landing at Vardø, Norway after GPS signals were jammed during nearby Russian military exercises, forcing diversion to Båtsfjord amid low clouds and poor visibility. Pilots relied on GPS to avoid terrain but could not access satellite navigation due to jammed airwaves. Finnmark experiences near-constant GPS disruption, with interference increasing since the invasion of Ukraine. Militaries deploy jammers that confuse or disrupt drones, missiles, and aircraft. Affordable commercial jamming equipment can replicate these effects, threatening civilian navigation and prompting consideration of technical fixes, redundancy, regulation, and monitoring to reduce vulnerability.

Read at Ars Technica