The plane with the British Minister of Defense fell into the clutches of Russian jammers

Smartphones and laptops could not connect to the Internet, the crew turned off the GPS system due to interference and activated a “spare navigation system” for three hours of the flight, Sky News station described the events on board. The crew assured the passengers on board the plane, including Minister Healey, that the RAF machine was able to deal with the interference.

GPS jamming near Russian territory is a common nuisance for pilots. It mainly concerns civil lines from Scandinavian and Baltic airports. Their pilots face not only interference, but also false GPS signals. It often has to rely on other tools and systems for navigation.

British authorities did not say whether the Dassault Falcon 900LX, whose flight path was visible on aircraft tracking websites, was the target of jammers because the defense minister was on board. However, Healey would not be the first head of the aforementioned department whose plane encountered such a thing.

In 2024, the GPS signal of an RAF aircraft with the then British Defense Minister Grant Shapps on board was jammed for approximately 30 minutes while flying near Russian territory. In September 2025, the plane of the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also found herself without GPS. “We received information from the Bulgarian authorities that they suspect that Russia is involved,” said von der Leyen at the time.

Northern Europe is not the only area where GPS signal interference is common. Earlier this month, electronic warfare expert Thomas Withington from the RUSI think tank told Sky News that Iran had bought jamming equipment from Russia. According to him, the Islamic Republic has also developed its own systems for the Persian Gulf region.