Russia is believed to have jammed the satellite tv for pc sign on an RAF aircraft taking Defence Secretary Grant Shapps again to the UK from Poland.
The GPS sign was interfered with for about half-hour whereas the jet flew close to the Russian territory of Kaliningrad on Wednesday, in keeping with a report in The Instances.
Cell phones couldn’t connect with the web and the plane, a Dassault 900LX Falcon jet, had to make use of various strategies to find out its location.
Mr Shapps, who was travelling together with his employees and several other journalists, was coming back from a navy coaching website in Orzysz, Poland, the place he had watched lots of of troops take part in Steadfast Defender, the largest NATO train for the reason that Chilly Conflict.
Consultants informed The Instances it was not clear whether or not Mr Shapps was focused however the aircraft’s flight path could possibly be seen on plane monitoring web sites.
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A defence supply informed the newspaper: “Whereas the RAF are nicely ready to cope with this, it nonetheless places an pointless threat on civilian plane and will doubtlessly endanger individuals’s lives.
“There isn’t a excuse for this and it is wildly irresponsible on Russia’s half.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesperson confirmed the incident occurred on Wednesday however added it was “common”.
They mentioned: “It did not threaten the security of the plane and it’s not uncommon for plane to expertise GPS jamming close to Kaliningrad, which is after all Russian territory.”
The Ministry of Defence has not commented.
Kaliningrad is separated from the Russian mainland, and is located between Poland and Lithuania.
It’s Russia’s solely ice-free port on the Baltic Sea.
The UK’s relationship with Russia has deteriorated in recent times, notably after the nation launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour Ukraine in February 2022.
