Russia
Big Baltic Jammer – how Putin misleads planes from Kaliningrad
The photo shows a Russian missile unit in Kaliningrad
© Russian Navy Baltic Fleet Press/ / Picture Alliance
For months, the navigation data of aircraft over the Baltic Sea has been disrupted by incorrect data. An analysis was now able to determine the location of the jammer.
Since the beginning of the year, navigation data in the Baltic Sea region has been going crazy, planes and ships are being misled. The data gives them the illusion of a route that is kilometers away from the real position. A new analysis of the data now apparently shows what was already feared: The Big Baltic Jammer – the large Baltic Sea jammer – is most likely in the Russian enclave Kaliningrad, according to the X account “Markus Jonsson” – a pseudonym. For this purpose, the disruptions to civil aviation were evaluated. “There is no longer any doubt in my mind. The trouble is in Kaliningrad, I think on the coast.” The anonymous account meticulously tracks the disturbances over the Baltic Sea and makes the data set available for review.
To date unknown extent
Satellite signals have often been disrupted, for example in connection with the Russian attack on Ukraine. But these were often warfare measures whose “side effects” also reached neighboring regions. This is not the case with the Baltic Jammer, it is intentionally used to disrupt navigation in the Baltic Sea region and Eastern Europe. The disruptive attacks repeatedly affect other regions. Sometimes the center is in Sweden, sometimes in Poland.
Advanced technology is now being used; the signals are not only disrupted and rendered unusable. In some cases, the receiving devices are deliberately misled – so-called “circle spoofing”. It is particularly dangerous because the devices do not indicate such a malfunction. In the event of a conflict, the mere ability to mislead is an advantage because the opponent can no longer trust his navigation devices and has to protect every move.
Moscow is reacting with the wave of disruptions to the fact that NATO is becoming more present on Russia’s borders, for example through the missile defense system in Poland. The current measures are also likely to be related to the major NATO exercise Steadfast Defender 2024. Such disruptions always pose a danger to civil air traffic and shipping.
High pace of innovation
And they are much more than just a nuisance. The importance of electronic warfare was demonstrated in the Ukraine war. Jamming drone signals can decide battles today. The Russians are equal to Western technology in this field, and tend to even be superior. Jamming GPS signals like over the Baltic Sea is only a small part of the arsenal. In the event of a conflict, such disruptions would probably not completely paralyze the opponent, but would significantly hinder his actions.
It has also shown how quickly development is progressing here. Disruptions and countermeasures occur every few weeks. This is a challenge for existing large-scale military equipment. Simple drones can be quickly adapted to other frequencies and antennas in production. For example, the Russians are said to have developed interference-resistant drones that are controlled with a thin fiber optic cable. The expensive military equipment, on the other hand, is often decades old and the modernization of the electronics dates back years. Such systems cannot be adapted at this speed.
Source: Breaking Defense, Markus Jonsson on X, Newsweek