A Spanish military aircraft carrying Defence Minister Margarita Robles experienced GPS interference Wednesday morning while flying near Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave en route to Lithuania, Spain’s Defence Ministry confirmed.
The plane was also carrying relatives of Spanish airmen serving in NATO’s Vilkas mission to secure airspace on the alliance’s eastern flank. Robles had been scheduled to meet with her Lithuanian counterpart at the Siauliai airbase. Spain’s Air Detachment Vilkas (DAT Vilkas) plays a key role in protecting Baltic airspace by conducting “Alpha Scramble” missions to identify and intercept unauthorized aircraft. (RELATED: Trump Urges Aggressive NATO Action, Says Ukraine Can Take Back All Lost Territory)
A ministry spokesperson said there was “an attempt to disrupt the GPS signal,” but stressed that the aircraft’s encrypted navigation systems were unaffected.
The incident follows a similar episode involving European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s plane, which experienced GPS jamming over Bulgaria. Estonia, Finland, and other Baltic states have repeatedly accused Russia of electronic interference in the region, particularly near Kaliningrad — accusations Moscow denies.
GPS jamming and spoofing (cyberattacks that block or falsify navigation signals) have been widely documented in the Baltic area, with researchers tracing interference back to Russian coastal and naval electronic warfare systems. (RELATED: Secret Service Dismantles Covert Telecom Network Near UN Assembly Site)
Data from Sweden’s Transport Agency, reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation, shows a dramatic surge in GPS jamming over the Baltic Sea in the past two years:
- 2023: 55 cases
- 2024: 495 cases
- 2025 (YTD): 733 cases
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Seems to me that the ‘bear’ is going to keep poking until one of two results occur. 1) they overplay their hand – one of their ‘pokes’ goes too far, 2) they provoke an over reaction (by vlad’s standards) by a NATO member and then blame it on them. The problem with either scenario is that there may very well not be any pieces to pick up after the dust settles, much less anyone to do the picking up.