Russia is suspected of launching an electronic attack on a Spanish Air Force plane carrying Defence Minister Margarita Robles and dozens of family members of NATO airmen, as the aircraft flew over the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad on Wednesday morning.
The Airbus A330 military transport jet suffered what Spanish authorities confirmed was a GPS “disturbance” whilst en route to Lithuania, where Robles was scheduled to meet her Lithuanian counterpart Dovile Sakaliene at the Siauliai airbase as part of NATO’s enhanced air defence mission on the alliance’s eastern flank.
The attack marks the latest in a series of suspected Russian electronic warfare operations targeting European officials and critical infrastructure, coming just weeks after a plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was forced to land using paper maps in Bulgaria following similar GPS jamming.
Spain’s Defence Ministry confirmed the incident occurred as the aircraft flew near Russia’s heavily militarised Kaliningrad exclave on the Baltic Sea. Besides Minister Robles, the plane was carrying relatives of Spanish airmen deployed as part of NATO’s new Vilkas mission – meaning “wolf” in Lithuanian – which was launched earlier this month after Poland shot down Russian drones violating its airspace.
A Spanish military commander aboard the aircraft told reporters that such incidents are “common when flying near Kaliningrad, both for civil and military aircraft.” The commander stressed that the Spanish plane was able to maintain safe navigation using military satellites and alternative positioning systems, ensuring the flight continued without endangering passengers.
The GPS interference failed to disrupt the aircraft’s journey, as military planes are equipped with secure satellite navigation systems that can withstand electronic attacks. However, the incident underscores growing concerns about Russia’s aggressive use of electronic warfare tactics against NATO members.
The attack comes amid dramatically heightened tensions between Russia and NATO, with Danish authorities revealing on Tuesday that the country faces a “high threat of sabotage” following Monday night’s drone incursions that shut down Copenhagen Airport for nearly four hours, leaving 20,000 passengers stranded and around 100 flights disrupted.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen described the Copenhagen incident as “the most serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure to date,” though she stopped short of directly naming Russia. “We have seen drones over Poland that should not have been there. We have seen activity in Romania. We have seen violations of Estonian airspace,” Frederiksen stated, drawing clear parallels with other recent Russian provocations.
Flemming Drejer, Director of Operations at Denmark’s intelligence service PET, warned at a press conference: “Someone may not necessarily want to attack us, but rather stress us out and see how we react.” Danish police chief superintendent Jens Jespersen said whoever was responsible was “what we would call a capable operator” with “the capabilities, the will, and the tools” to demonstrate their power.
The Danish authorities have identified three Russian-linked ships that potentially could have been used as launch platforms for the drone overflights. Oslo Airport in Norway was also forced to close for three hours on Monday night after drone sightings, affecting tens of thousands more passengers across Scandinavia’s busiest airports.
The Spanish incident follows a particularly alarming pattern of GPS interference targeting senior European officials. On August 31, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s plane experienced severe GPS jamming whilst attempting to land at Plovdiv Airport in Bulgaria, forcing pilots to resort to paper maps for navigation.
“The whole airport area GPS went dark,” an official briefing on the incident told the Financial Times. Bulgarian authorities later informed the European Commission that they suspected “blatant interference by Russia” was behind the attack.
European Commission spokeswoman Arianna Podesta confirmed: “We have received information from the Bulgarian authorities that they suspect that this was due to blatant interference by Russia.” The incident occurred during von der Leyen’s tour of EU states bordering Russia, intended to demonstrate solidarity against Moscow’s aggression.
GPS jamming and spoofing have become increasingly common weapons in what Western officials describe as Russia’s hybrid warfare campaign against NATO and EU countries. The technique, which disrupts access to satellite-based navigation systems, has historically been employed by military and intelligence services to protect sensitive locations but is now being weaponised to create chaos in civilian infrastructure.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has identified four key hotspots for interference: the Baltic Sea region, eastern Finland, the Black Sea, and the Eastern Mediterranean. The impact on civilian aviation has been severe, with Finnair forced to suspend flights to Tartu, Estonia, in April and May 2024 after repeated jamming incidents prevented safe approaches.
Latvia’s Electronic Communications Office recorded 820 cases of interference with satellite signals in 2024, compared to just 26 in 2022, warning that affected areas have “expanded significantly.” Poland logged 2,732 cases of interference in January 2025 alone, up from 1,908 in late 2023, whilst Lithuania recorded 1,185 cases in the same month, more than double the figure from March 2024.
The Spanish contingent targeted in Wednesday’s attack, operating under the Vilkas mission, had last week intercepted eight Russian aircraft operating over the Baltic Sea, according to Spain’s Defence Ministry. Spain currently leads NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission, with its Eurofighter Typhoons based at Šiauliai Air Base providing crucial air defence capabilities for the Baltic states.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte warned Russia against a “continuation of this dangerous pattern” following the recent incidents, stating that NATO stands “ready and willing to defend every inch of allied territory.” The alliance said in a statement that “Russia should be in no doubt” that allies will “use all necessary military and non-military tools to defend ourselves and deter all threats from all directions.
Russian authorities have consistently denied responsibility for GPS jamming operations. Following the Copenhagen airport incident, Russia’s ambassador to Denmark, Vladimir Barbin, called suspicions of Russian involvement “ungrounded,” claiming the incident “reveals a clear desire to provoke NATO countries into a direct military confrontation with Russia.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed allegations regarding the von der Leyen incident as “incorrect” and “paranoia” from Europe, whilst Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described the claims as “fake.”
However, Western security experts argue that the pattern of incidents is too consistent to be coincidental. Thomas Withington, an electronic warfare expert at the Royal United Services Institute, noted that whilst Russia generally transmits jamming signals to disrupt satellite-guided weapons or drones, civilian aircraft can become collateral damage in these operations.
The incidents have prompted urgent discussions within NATO about enhancing defences against hybrid threats. Estonia’s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna stated that his country had “irrefutable evidence” of recent Russian airspace violations, adding: “The fact that Russia is provocatively and dangerously violating the airspace of a NATO country is one thing. The fact that it is openly lying to the whole world about it is another.”
In March 2024, a Royal Air Force jet carrying then-UK Defence Minister Grant Shapps also experienced GPS jamming near Kaliningrad, demonstrating that even military aircraft with senior officials aboard are not immune to these attacks.
The escalating electronic warfare campaign has forced European nations to adapt their procedures. Baltic nations have banned drone flights in some areas near their borders with Russia, whilst Sweden’s Maritime Administration has officially warned sailors to use radar or landmarks for navigation rather than relying solely on GPS.
In July 2025, two German tourists accidentally flew a light aircraft into Russian airspace after GPS interference, requiring experienced pilots to guide them back to Lithuanian territory – highlighting the very real dangers these attacks pose to civilian aviation.
As Minister Robles successfully completed her visit to Lithuania despite the electronic attack, the incident serves as yet another reminder of the increasingly hostile electronic environment over European skies. With GPS jamming incidents now numbering in the thousands annually, what was once a background nuisance has evolved into a serious security threat requiring urgent NATO-wide countermeasures.
The Spanish Defence Ministry’s measured response to Wednesday’s attack – confirming the incident whilst emphasising that the aircraft’s military systems ensured safe navigation – reflects a delicate balance between acknowledging Russian aggression and avoiding escalation. However, with each new incident, pressure mounts on NATO to develop more robust defences against what appears to be an intensifying campaign of electronic warfare.
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Image Credit:
T.21-12 / CASA C.295 Spanish Air Force — photo by Lasser (via AirTeamImages), CC BY-SA 2.0.
