Russia ‘jammed signal’ on Shapps RAF plane

Russia is believed to have been behind the jamming of an RAF aircraft’s satellite signal on Wednesday morning while Defence Secretary Grant Shapps was flying back from Poland.

The act was “wildly irresponsible” according to a defence source, as the plane’s GPS signal was interfered with for half an hour while passing over Kaliningrad, a Russian territory between Poland and Lithuania.

The aircraft was forced into using alternative methods to determine its location, with mobile phones unable to connect to the internet.

“While the RAF are well prepared to deal with this, it still puts an unnecessary risk on civilian aircraft,” the defence source told The Independent, “and could potentially endanger people’s lives. There is no excuse for this and it’s wildly irresponsible on Russia’s part.”

It is not the first time that British aircraft have faced probable jamming by Russia, with planes flying in and out of RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus thought to have also been targeted in 2021.

The Defence Secretary (inset, in Poland on Wednesday), who was on the Dassault 900LX Falcon jet with journalists at the time, was assured the electronic attack did not threaten the aircraft’s safety. The tampering follows a number of other Baltic nations reporting similar GPS interference in recent months.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a think-tank that monitors the war in Ukraine, said that the northern and eastern parts of Poland and southern Baltic Sea experienced comparable jamming in January and December, respectively.

Responding to the ISW’s report, Swedish military officer Joakim Paasikivi said the ambushes could be “Russia’s way of sowing uncertainty”. He told the SVT broadcaster” “I believe this is part of Russian influence activities or so-called hybrid warfare.”

Mr Shapps had been observing Nato’s largest military exercises since the Cold War. The exercises, planned until May, include around 90,000 troops from across the alliance, including UK forces.

Since the Kremlin launched its attack on Ukraine in 2022, electronic warfare has grown, with drone use in particular taking on added importance.

When the incident took place, Mr Shapps was returning from a military training site in Orzysz, Poland.

During his trip, the Defence Secretary accused President Vladimir Putin of Russia of “sabre-rattling” after the leader had claimed in an interview he was “ready” for nuclear war if needed.

Mr Shapps described the interview as “irresponsible”.

Ukraine is running out of ammunition in its war against Russia’s invasion and Nato members are not doing enough to help Kyiv, the alliance’s secretary general has said.

In unusually blunt comments about the state of the war, Jens Stoltenberg said Nato allies had the capacity to provide more to Ukraine but needed to show the political will to do so.

“Unprecedented aid from Nato allies has helped Ukraine survive as an independent nation. But Ukraine needs even more support and they need it now,” he told reporters at Nato headquarters in Brussels. “The Ukrainians are not running out of courage, they are running out of ammunition.”

More than two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s military has recently been grappling with significantly reduced weapons supplies from the West.

“Nato allies are not providing Ukraine with enough ammunition and that has consequences.”