Norway boosts GPS jamming detection amid Russian escalation
Russia is intensifying GPS jamming operations on the Kola Peninsula, creating growing risks for aviation and other civilian systems in Norway’s eastern Finnmark region. In response, Norwegian authorities are establishing two additional monitoring stations to measure GNSS interference in the border area.
This week, government officials gathered to discuss countermeasures against Russia’s electronic warfare activities. GNSS jamming and spoofing have become an almost daily occurrence, affecting a wide range of civilian operations, including air traffic.
“GPS interference can increase workload in the cockpit and may, under certain circumstances, lead to reduced safety margins,” the Norwegian Airline Pilots’ Association said in a statement on 19 May.
Although flight safety is not considered to be directly threatened, pilots have voiced growing concern.
“Extensive and persistent interference, particularly at lower altitudes, is often a complicating factor in the planning and conduct of flights. This is in addition to operating within an already demanding route network in Finnmark. The area is frequently characterised by adverse weather conditions and, even during normal operations, places high demands on pilots.”
Finnmark has 11 airports, most of them small, handling daily commercial passenger traffic.
“Russia’s jamming, especially since the invasion of Ukraine, has consequences for the safety and security of the people who live and operate here,” said Karianne Tung, Norway’s Minister of Digitalisation and Public Governance.
She stressed that jamming and spoofing of navigation signals constitute “a violation of international law”.
The Barents Observer met the minister at Kirkenes Airport, located just 10 kilometres from Norway’s border with Russia. It was here, in 2017, that cross-border jamming from Russian electronic warfare systems was first detected.
The problem has now become so widespread that pilots can no longer rely solely on GPS and instead use alternative systems when approaching the airport. Kirkenes has daily flights operated by SAS, Widerøe, Finnair and Norwegian.
Three dedicated monitoring stations for detecting GNSS disturbances have already been established in the border region in recent years. The Norwegian Communications Authority (Nkom) plans to install two additional stations during 2026, as interference is increasingly being detected deeper inside Norwegian airspace.
According to Nkom’s Espen Slette, strong jamming over the Varanger Peninsula has been recorded at altitudes as low as 500 metres.
Nkom also receives data from mobile detectors, including equipment installed in the agency’s own vehicles and aboard Hurtigruten vessels sailing the coastal route between Bergen and Kirkenes. Several Norwegian Coast Guard vessels operating in the Barents Sea are likewise equipped with systems capable of measuring GNSS disturbances.
The new sensors will provide improved continuous monitoring of the situation, covering key new areas, including large parts of the Varanger Peninsula and the Barents Sea.
“The data from the monitoring stations will help strengthen situational awareness for both national and local authorities, as well as other actors that depend on precise positioning and navigation services,” said Espen Slette.
Neither Slette nor Minister Tung would comment on the exact locations on the Russian side of the border from which the jamming originates.
In 2018, interference targeting Norwegian airspace was traced to Russian electronic warfare units in the Pechenga area, around 20 kilometres from the border.
Since then, Russia has established more extensive jamming systems around the Olenya air base and at several locations across northern Karelia and the Kola Peninsula, apparently aimed at disrupting Ukrainian drones approaching from the south.
Espen Slette said his agency had submitted a formal request for information about the interference to Russia’s radio communications authority, but had received no reply.
Meanwhile, both the scale and intensity of the jamming continue to grow.
