A British Royal Air Force jet carrying Defense Minister John Healey experienced an electronic warfare attack while returning from a visit to British troops stationed in southeastern Estonia. The incident occurred as the aircraft approached the Russian border, resulting in a disruption of its satellite signal.
According to reports from The Times, the Russian military disabled the aircraft’s GPS for the entire three-hour flight. In response, the pilots had to rely on an inertial navigation system to determine their location.
Alongside Healey, the flight included political and military advisors, a lieutenant general, two photographers, and a journalist from The Times. The pilots noted that the jamming seemed to have occurred shortly after takeoff near Russian territory, and they were unable to restore the satellite signal while airborne without rebooting the systems.
One pilot remarked that such an occurrence is rare and had not been witnessed in a long time. It remains unclear whether the Defense Minister was specifically targeted, although the flight path was publicly available through flight tracking services.
This incident follows a similar occurrence in 2024 when Russia jammed the GPS of a plane carrying then-Defense Minister Grant Shapps near Kaliningrad.
A British RAF jet with Defense Minister John Healey onboard faced electronic warfare near Russia, disrupting its GPS during the flight from Estonia. This follows a previous incident in 2024 involving GPS jamming near Kaliningrad.