Fake GPS Signals, Real Panic: Who Is 'Spoofing' Our Flights?
A new and alarming threat to aviation safety is emerging - cyber spoofing - a high-risk menace capable of causing major disruption and potentially fatal consequences. Flights operating near Delhi and several other major airports across India have reported repeated instances of GPS spoofing and navigation interference over the past year. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu confirmed that spoofing incidents occurred during GPS-based landing approaches on Runway 10 at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport. Pilots were forced to switch to contingency procedures, and multiple approaching flights reported similar interference. The Minister also revealed that since the DGCA made incident reporting mandatory in late 2023, several other major airports - including Kolkata, Amritsar, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai - have also flagged GPS interference.
The big questions now: Who is behind the GPS spoofing near our airports? Who is attempting to trigger mid-air scares - and why?
