GPS jamming and spoofing, particularly prevalent near conflict zones and certain high-traffic airspaces, are rising threats in aviation, with a 500% increase in incidents in 2024, affecting around 1,500 flights daily. These disruptions pose serious safety risks, impacting critical systems.1
Jammed and Spoofed GPS signals can lead to inaccurate navigation, false safety alerts, and compromised communication. SkyPath’s GPS Jamming and Spoofing PIREP system addresses these issues by allowing pilots to report interference in real-time, helping crews and ATC adjust routes and reduce risks.
What is GPS Jamming and Spoofing?
GPS jamming involves overpowering or obscuring the satellite signals aircraft use for navigation. In contrast, spoofing sends false GPS signals, tricking the aircraft’s navigation systems into believing incorrect positions, leading to false positional data or even misleading guidance.
Critical Safety Risks Modern aircraft rely on GPS for a range of critical systems, especially the Flight Management System (FMS). GPS spoofing or jamming can lead to undetected deviations in flight paths, causing potential loss of situational awareness. For instance, when precise positioning is compromised, Air Traffic Control (ATC) may need to reroute flights or assign less efficient altitudes to maintain safe separation. These actions can result in aircraft flying longer distances or into less fuel-efficient flight levels, increasing both safety risks, costs and operational
complexity.
A Major Challenge for Airlines GPS interference doesn’t just affect safety; it disrupts airline operations as well. Flights impacted by jamming or spoofing often face delays, increased fuel burn due to less direct routing, and unexpected altitude changes. These disruptions can cascade into scheduling issues, missed connections, and higher operational costs, making GPS jamming one of the costliest challenges for airlines today.
SkyPath's Solution: GPS Jamming and Spoofing PIREP To tackle this problem, SkyPath has created a new type of PIREP as part of its community PIREP system. With the GPS Jamming and Spoofing PIREP, pilots can report GPS interference in real-time, creating a crowdsourced map of affected areas.
After encountering GPS interference, pilots simply select the type of interference experienced (jamming or spoofing) and drag and drop the GPS PIREP to the affected location. This makes for a simple and efficient process.
The GPS PIREP provides SkyPath users with situational awareness of risks which are dynamically evolving and enables them to take mitigating action to ensure a safer flight. To learn more, email contact@skypath.io.
