Top German Military Official Reports GPS Disruptions During Flights.
Germany’s highest-ranking military officer has revealed that he has experienced GPS interference while flying, highlighting growing concerns over electronic threats in European airspace. The report comes amid a recent incident involving the plane of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
General Inspector of the Bundeswehr, Carsten Breuer, told journalists in Berlin that GPS disruptions occurred once during a flight over the northern Baltic Sea and again during military exercises in Lithuania. He emphasized that pilots are typically able to work around such issues and are confident in their procedures. However, it remains unclear whether these incidents were targeted specifically at him or were part of a broader pattern of interference.
“We are constantly exposed to sabotage, espionage, and hybrid threats, which very often can be traced back to state actors, frequently Russia,” Breuer said.
The statement follows the August 31 GPS jamming incident on von der Leyen’s aircraft en route to Bulgaria, which Bulgarian authorities suspect may have been caused by Russian interference. “We can confirm that GPS jamming occurred, but the aircraft landed safely,” Commission deputy spokesperson Arianna Podestà told.
Von der Leyen’s visit to several so-called “frontline” EU countries — Latvia, Finland, Estonia, Poland, Lithuania, Bulgaria, and Romania — is intended to underscore the bloc’s commitment to strengthening defense and security. During her visit to Bulgaria, she toured a weapons factory in Sopot accompanied by Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov.
The Commission-chartered plane lost access to satellite navigation as it approached Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second-largest city. According to the Bulgarian government, air traffic control immediately offered an alternative approach using ground-based navigation systems. “The ground-based navigation systems used in Bulgaria are independent of GPS,” the statement noted, adding that “there was no need to change the flight route.”
