GPS jamming attack hits Ursula von der Leyen’s plane, Russia suspected

The EU’s top official, European Commission (EC) president Ursula von der Leyen, was on her way to Bulgaria when a suspected Russian attack forced her plane to land without essential navigation tools, the Financial Times (FT) reports.

Three officials briefed on the matter confirmed to FT that a plane carrying von der Leyen was targeted over Bulgaria’s airspace. The attack was so severe that pilots were forced to land the plane using paper maps, something airline pilots rarely do in the modern age.

After a suspected GPS jamming attack took out the whole area of the airport, the EC president’s plane circled the airport for an hour before pilots made the decision to land it using analogue maps, officials told journalists.

GPS jamming is a type of malicious activity when attackers interfere with GPS satellites, often via radio frequency transmitters.

Both the Bulgarian Traffic Services Authority and the European Commission confirmed the incident. Bulgarian authorities suspect Russia of being behind the attack, which targeted the EU's top official.

Moscow has been utilizing GPS jamming in Central and Northern Europe for quite some time now. For example, the Lithuanian air navigation authority reported over 300 GPS jamming incidents just this March alone.

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Earlier this year, Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski also accused Russia of actively disrupting GPS signals in northern Poland as part of a broader effort to destabilize the country.

The attack impacting von der Leyen took place on the last day of August, when the EC president was on her way to meet Bulgaria’s prime minister and tour an ammunition factory. Von der Leyen’s pilots managed to land the plane safely.

Meanwhile, The European Union said it will deploy additional satellites in low Earth orbit to strengthen resilience against GPS interferences, Reuters reported. The move is aimed at improving capabilities to detect it, EU Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said.