GPS jammers put in place along India-Pak borders, harrowing time for pilots

NEW DELHI: The electronic warfare units deployed by India to jam Global Positioning Systems (GPS) of Pakistan military aircraft along the Indo-Pak border are creating issues for flights within India flying over cities in the vicinity, said an airport source. There is no major passenger safety involved but the flights are forced to fly a little longer due to problems encountered by the navigation aids inside the cockpit.
'Of late, we have received complaints from pilots of different airlines flying over Amritsar, Chandigarh and Srinagar about the sudden signal drops at some points during the travel. This forces them to fly a little longer than expected. Airlines are now loading some extra fuel in the flights flying towards this direction, taking into account the need to move around a bit extra distance whenever needed,' the source said.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation too has been apprised of the issue, the source added. According to Global tracker of aircraft flights, flightradar24, in a report states, 'GPS jamming involves saturating GPS receivers with unknown signals to render the receiver unusable, essentially degrading everyone's ability to effectively use GPS for navigational issues.'
Aviation safety consultant and former pilot Captain Mohan Ranganathan said, 'All flight management systems use GPS signals and separations are based on accurate signals. If they are degraded, radar separations and conventional navigation has to be followed. This will cause delays. Airlines and Air Traffic Controllers will have to anticipate disruptions in schedules.'
A pilot, requesting anonymity said, 'That can happen in any war-ravaged area. It is called as a GPS denied airspace.'
He added, 'Defence aircraft mostly are fully equipped and won't be affected by GPS spoofing as the technology and satellites are under our control.'

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