The General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC) on Friday issued a notice circular regarding the interference of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) in the airspace. The circular highlights emerging threats of GNSS jamming and spoofing. It also includes the different geographic areas where the interference was observed and the potential impact on aircraft and ground systems.

GNSS interference or spoofing affects some or all applications that use GNSS inputs on an aircraft. Avionics and system architecture are the most vulnerable. This can also cause an aircraft to deviate from the planned flight path.

There has been an increase in the number of reports of GNSS interference in airspace in different areas. This includes areas around conflict zones, the southern and eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Arctic Istanbul, Ankara Flight Information (FIR), Baghdad FIR, Tehran FIR, Tel Aviv FIR, Cairo FIR, Amman FIR, Samara FIR, Moscow FIR and Minsk FIR.

DGCA formed an internal committee on October 4, 2023, on whose recommendations the circular is based. The circular is applicable to all aircraft operators and air navigation service providers (ANSP) under the Airport Authority of India.

DGCA has directed airlines to assess the potential impact and conduct a safety risk of GNSS interference on their fleet. They have also been asked to coordinate with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to obtain their recommendations and develop contingency procedures to mitigate GNSS interference on aircraft.

The airlines have also been directed to include the topic of GNSS interference in recurrent training. It is also advised to prepare a backup of conventional instrument approach procedures in case of an interference and report suspected or actual GNSS interference events.