The security of official flights, debated by the EU states after the jam that targeted the aircraft von der Leyen to Bulgaria. The measure taken into account by Italy
Ursula von der Leyen. Photo: Jean-Christophe Verhaegen / AFP / Profimedia
The Member States of the European Union debate how to make the aircraft air travel more safe, and sources from the Italian Defense Ministry have told The Guardian that Rome is considering secreting state flights.
The chairman of the European Commission, a fierce criticism of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, flew by plane to Bulgaria on Sunday when an attack attributed to Russia blocked GPS navigation services at Plovdiv airport and forced the aircraft to land late.
After flying the airport for one hour, the pilot of the plane made the decision to land manually, using analog maps, three officials for the Financial Times said. The chairman of the European Commission came on Sunday, to Romania.
The jamming case triggered in the EU a debate on the safety of official flights, because the GPS jam and “spoofing”, an electronic war tactic that determines the display of incorrect navigation information, have intensified in the last year.
Italy is considering secreting state flights
Defense officials have stated that Italy analyzes plans to secrete state flights, reduce information published on the prime minister's website, and no longer allow specialized platforms to make aircraft routes visible.
The Italian defense minister, Guido Crosetto, carried this measure for the first time a few months ago, when interference with satellite navigation began to become more frequent in the air space near Russia.
In August, the Office of Electronic Communications of Latvia stated that it had identified at least three central jamming points along the borders with Russia.
In April 2024, a Finnish airline temporarily suspended flights to Estonian Tartu after a jam. In March 2024, a plane carrying the British Defense Secretary had the satellite signal while flying near the Russian territory.
A decree in 2011 has established that the trips of Italian ministers, especially flights, must be published on the Government's website. Although the government would still be obliged to obtain diplomatic authorization to overcome the air space of another country, sources told The Guardian that Italy “could soon decide not to make such flights.”
In February, the plane of the Italian prime minister was eliminated from Flightradar, one of the most used platforms for real -time data on aircraft movements, but is still visible on equivalent platforms. For security reasons, officials are now considering “protecting the flights that carry the prime minister and the ministers of the cabinet of all these platforms,” sources said.
Russia denied the charges
Russia denied that it would have been behind the jam that targeted Ursula Von der Leyen. “Your information is incorrect,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said Monday.
On Tuesday, NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, said that the “very seriously” GPS signals are in a jam. He said that the Alliance works “day and night” to prevent such incidents and to ensure that “this will not happen again”.
