The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on November 24 issued an advisory to Indian airlines detailing mitigating measures to be taken in the event of spoofing of (fake) navigational signals, following incidents near the Iranian airspace and a U.S. advisory.
GPS spoofing is “the surreptitious replacement of a true satellite signal that can cause a GPS receiver to output an erroneous position and time”, according to the U.S. Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics.
Following reports of the Geo Navigational Satellite System (GNSS) jamming over West Asia and an advisory from the U.S.’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for its airlines on September 27, the DGCA formed an internal committee on October 4 and held discussions with leading experts from around the world.
In its circular, the DGCA has provided comprehensive mitigation measures and action plan for aircraft operators, pilots, air navigation service providers, and air traffic controllers. These include developing “contingency procedures in coordination with equipment manufacturers, and assessing operational risk by conducting a safety risk assessment,” the DGCA said in a press statement. The DGCA has also provided a mechanism for air navigation service providers to establish a “threat monitoring and analysis network” for preventive and reactive threat monitoring and analysis of reports of GNSS interference.
20 incidents
The flight data intelligence crowd-sourcing website, Ops Group, in a report on September 25 documented 20 incidents of navigational failures following fake GPS signals reported by more than a dozen commercial, military and business aircraft.
These included one aircraft entering Iranian airspace without clearance and another requiring ATC intervention all the way to its destination in Doha. The Ops Group cautioned flight crews in the vicinity of Airway UM688, which parallels the border between Iraq and Iran, against alleged GPS spoofing incidents. Since this is a conflict zone, there was a risk of these aircraft being shot down.
Following this report, the FAA warned airlines on September 27 of “safety of flight risk to civil aviation operations” in a memo titled “Iraq/Azerbaijan – GPS Jamming and Spoofing Poses Safety Risk.” It advised that “Potential spoofing activities reported by various civil air operators in Iraq and Azerbaijan pose a safety of flight risk to civil aviation operations in the Baghdad and Baku flight information regions.” These, it added, could lead to “loss of situational awareness and increased pilot and regional air traffic control workload issues, which can lead to potential accidents and/ or loss of life.”
