Hybrid

 Copilot:

Are jamming and spoofing attacks on civilian aircraft happening a lot in different parts of Europe at the moment?

Yes, they are happening with alarming frequency. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, there have been nearly 80 documented incidents of GPS jamming and spoofing across Europe, many of which Western officials attribute to Russian interference.

🛬 Recent example: Just days ago, a plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen lost GPS navigation mid-air while flying over Bulgaria. Authorities suspect Russian jamming was responsible. The aircraft landed safely using backup navigation tools like paper maps and a compass.

🌍 Widespread impact:

• Nordic and Baltic nations — including Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia — have reported repeated disruptions to aircraft, ships, and drones.

• A Finnish airline even suspended flights to Estonia due to unreliable GPS signals.

• In 2024, the British defense secretary’s plane experienced jamming near Russian territory.

🛰️ How it works:

• Jamming overwhelms GPS receivers with strong signals, making them unable to determine location or time.

• Spoofing sends fake signals to trick navigation systems into thinking they’re somewhere else entirely.

NATO officials have called this a “complex campaign” of hybrid warfare, warning that it poses potentially disastrous risks to civilian aviation. Some European leaders now say that “such things happen every day” and are a side effect of the ongoing conflict.

It’s a chilling reminder of how modern warfare can reach far beyond the battlefield. Want to dive deeper into how spoofing tech works or what Europe is doing to counter it?

What is hybrid warfare?

Hybrid warfare is a modern form of conflict that blends conventional military force with non-traditional tactics to achieve strategic goals—often without triggering a full-scale war.

🧠 Core definition: Hybrid warfare involves both military and nonmilitary actions, such as:

• Cyberattacks

• Disinformation campaigns

• Economic coercion

• Use of paramilitary or proxy forces

• Sabotage and infrastructure disruption

• Political manipulation and lawfare

🎯 Purpose: The goal is to destabilize, confuse, and divide an adversary while staying below the threshold of open conflict. It thrives in the “grey zone” between peace and war, making it hard to attribute responsibility or justify retaliation.

📌 Real-world examples:

• Russia’s annexation of Crimea (2014): Combined covert military action, cyber disruption, and propaganda.

• Recent GPS jamming in Europe: NATO officials say Russia is using hybrid tactics like jamming civilian aircraft, cutting undersea cables, and launching cyberattacks on public infrastructure.

💬 NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte even said:

“I have always hated the word hybrid because it sounds so cuddly, but hybrid is exactly this—jamming of commercial airplanes, with potentially disastrous effects.”

Hybrid warfare is slippery, strategic, and deeply psychological. It’s not just about winning battles—it’s about shaping perceptions, eroding trust, and weakening societies from within.

Would you like to explore how countries are defending against it or how it affects civilians?