A jet carrying the British minister of defence has again experienced jamming of its navigation and communication systems when flying close to the Russian border, prompting questions on why the aircraft hasn’t been upgraded with hardened radio systems.
A Royal Air Force-operated VIP jet carrying defence minister John Healey back to Britain from Estonia, where he had been inspecting troops deployed to the NATO border country, was subject to alleged electronic warfare jamming by the Russian Federation on Thursday, it is claimed. A Times of London journalist was onboard the executive flight at the time of the jamming and reported the aircraft’s GPS navigation system was inoperable “for the entire three-hour flight back” to Britain.
The prevalence of radio spectrum jamming in the region impacted by the Ukraine War from the Baltic in Europe’s north down to the Black Sea is well documented and has been ongoing for many years. It has been active non-stop for years since Russia launched its renewed invasion in 2022 and was present periodically in the years running up to it as well.
Indeed, this isn’t even the first time a British minister of defence has been aboard a government jet so impacted. Breitbart News reported when former minister Grant Shapps visited a NATO exercise in Poland aboard the very same government jet and the aircraft’s navigation systems and communication suite malfunctioned.
The British government has the option to install hardened systems and countermeasures onboard its flight of two leased Dassault 900LX Falcon VIP jets, but has chosen not to on grounds of cost, reasoning that if a government minister was actually put in harm’s way they would travel on an actual military aircraft, not a dry-leased civilian airframe. The country’s previous generation of executive jets were British built, government owned and operated, and did have hardened onboard systems but they were scrapped earlier this decade.
The Times report outlines a notable failing of the Dassault’s onboard computers after they were exposed to the jamming near the Russian border, causing issues that persisted long after the aircraft was away from Eastern Europe. The report stated: “the satellite signal could not be restored without shutting down and rebooting the jet, which was impossible while airborne”. The aircraft navigated home without GPS the old-fashioned way by dead reckoning.
Given the RAF-operated VIP jets are indeed being flown close to the Russian border and are experiencing entirely predictable and well documented regional radio jamming that interrupts its onboard navigation, questions have been raised over why the decision not to upgrade the aircraft hasn’t been overturned. Cited is Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty who said on Monday that it is “absurd that the defence secretary is flying close to Russian airspace in an aircraft incapable of defending itself”, and notes he previously raised questions on the upgrade question earlier this year, and was told by the government: “options to expand the future capability… under consideration”.