By Olha Chepil | 2025-04-28

KYIV -- When planes veer off course and ships lose their bearings, the culprit may not be mechanical failure. Increasingly, it's by enemy design.

In Finland, Russian Global Positioning System (GPS)-jamming systems have become a growing menace, forcing the country to rethink how it navigates a world where even signals from space can be weaponized. To defend itself, Finland is rushing to modernize its navigation systems and build new defenses against its unpredictable neighbor.

An element of hybrid warfare

Since the beginning of 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Finland has increasingly experienced satellite navigation problems, especially near its eastern border and airspace. The interference comes from Russia and poses a serious threat to Finland's security, say authorities.

"Such jamming requires not just any equipment but very powerful equipment, and only a state -- that is, Russia -- can implement this," Galina Sergeyeva, a journalist for the Finnish state broadcaster Yle, told Kontur.

"It's obvious to us that Russia is behind this."

Russian jamming, which analysts consider an element of hybrid warfare, raises concerns not only in Helsinki but also among NATO allies.

"Russia's jamming of GPS is likely part of a Russia-led hybrid campaign that is intensifying and directly targets NATO countries, and likely aims to undermine both support for Ukraine and for NATO's unity," Sergei Bratchuk, a military and political correspondent and representative of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army, told Kontur.

From aviation to shipping

Finnish watchers detect GPS outages most often in their country's airspace, especially in the north, near the border with Russia.

The Finnish transportation safety authority, Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom), has received numerous complaints from commercial and private airline pilots about mid-flight loss of a GPS signal.

Modern aviation relies heavily on GPS, especially during the approach to landing in difficult weather, analysts say.

"For civil aviation, GPS is one of the key technologies for operations and routes. The aircraft is programmed through an autopilot that maintains the course, the specified altitude, air corridors and speed. Everything is done using GPS," said Ihor Chalenko, a Ukrainian political scientist, director of the Center for Analysis and Strategies and member of the National League of Centrists.

Traficom recorded about 2,100 reports of in-air GPS interference in 2024 compared to just more than 200 a year earlier.

Every year the security threat grows and moves farther from the Russian border, which indicates that the problem is expanding, said Sergeyeva.

"In March 2022, a plane flying from Estonia to the Finnish city of Savonlinna could not land. It couldn't land even 60km away and had to fly back to Tallinn because it lost its signal. Such incidents generally occur near the Russian border. But lately they've been farther and farther away," said Sergeyeva.

Analysts register the most interference around the Black Sea, Kaliningrad and the Gulf of Finland.

"The Russians have strategic facilities near Finland, such as the Plesetsk Cosmodrome and the Olenya Air Base, where their strategic bombers take off. And the more Russian electronic warfare develops, the more obstacles Russia is creating now," Chalenko told Kontur.

Since April 2024, Finland has recorded numerous instances of interference with satellite navigation in the Baltic Sea. The Finnish border guard has noted systematic interference with the GPS and automatic identification systems on ships.

"This jamming is just one type of hybrid influence that Russia is currently exerting on Finland in particular and on all of Europe," said Sergeyeva.

Russia is jamming signals to protect its oil ports in the eastern Gulf of Finland from possible Ukrainian drone strikes, says the Finnish coast guard.

"GPS interference is particularly common ... in [eastern Finland's] North Karelia," said Bratchuk.

However, Russia denies any involvement in these incidents.

"The problem has been systemic for many years now. But for its part, Russia doesn't confirm that it is sending these jamming signals. Accordingly, [Finland is now seeking] to develop new technological solutions," said Chalenko.

A counteracting device

In response to these threats, Finland has stepped up efforts to protect against GPS jamming.

Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen last October authorized his country's military to sign a framework agreement on buying GPS-independent navigation devices, Yle reported at the time.

Finnish researchers are working on a device to counteract jamming of satellite positioning systems like GPS.

"We will develop algorithmic solutions suitable for our conditions that can identify the interference and warn the end user that there's something in the air that doesn't belong there," Mika Saajasto, a senior researcher at the Finnish national land survey authority, said in April, according to AFP.

The European Union (EU)-funded project will be implemented over two years in North Karelia, which suffers particularly frequent interference in satellite positioning data.

Effectively countering these threats will require joint efforts by all countries in the region and more international cooperation on top of that, say analysts.

"The EU should impose sanctions on Russia for its malicious activities in outer space, including disrupting GPS navigation," said Bratchuk.

Additionally, three airports in eastern Finland -- Joensuu, Savonlinna and Lappeenranta -- have reintroduced radio navigation systems, such as Distance Measuring Equipment, which provide an alternative to GPS and ensure safe landings when interference is present.

"Airports have alternative navigation systems. That is, not specifically GPS but something similar, precisely to get around this jamming and keep aircraft safe. It's a system based on radar and a network of ground stations that determines the location of an aircraft," said Sergeyeva.

Finland is not limiting itself to domestic measures, analysts say. The country is actively cooperating with neighbors like Estonia and Norway to exchange information and coordinate GPS anti-jamming measures. It is monitoring radio frequencies more intensely and working with NATO allies to counter threats.