fAn MQ-9 Reaper drone owned by the United States made an emergency landing this week in Poland.
Though no further details have been released, Poland’s General Command of the Armed Forces tweeted that the piloted craft had to land suddenly after disconnecting from its command station.
According to the Pentagon, the craft was “conducting routine
training operations when it lost connection with the command station,
affecting their ability to operate the aircraft.”
“Preparations for recovery are currently underway and investigation of the incident is in progress,” said the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) in a statement to Newsweek. “We are thankful to our Polish partners for their assistance.”
The lost connection is believed by the West to be a result of
Russian GPS-jamming technology that is said to be interfering with the
Global Positioning System and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS)
signals throughout eastern Europe and in the greater Baltic region.
“When an aircraft’s GPS or GNSS is jammed, it can become confused as to where it’s at,” reported Knewz.
“Many have pointed to the Russians as possible suspects for the
alleged jamming. The area affected is between Russia and NATO members
Poland and Lithuania around Kaliningrad.”
WWIII brewing
Kaliningrad serves as a strategic base for Russia’s naval fleets. And
Estonian Gen. Martin Herem, who heads up Estonia’s Defense Forces,
recently warned that Russia’s ability to deploy electronic warfare
against NATO from this particular spot is “quite strong.”
The drone incident in Poland marks the second time this past week
that Russia was blamed for jamming GPS on a NATO aircraft. The first
reportedly occurred when a Russian satellite signal is said to have
interfered with an aircraft used by Britain Defense Minister Grant
Shapps while he was traveling back home from Poland on March 13.
“The aircraft’s GPS signal was jammed for approximately 30
minutes as the plane flew near Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad,”
reports explain.
Citing anonymous government sources and a handful of journalists, Reuters
reported that mobile phones on the aircraft suddenly lost their
internet connection, resulting in alternative means being used to
determine the craft’s location.
“While travelling back from Poland yesterday, the plane carrying
the Defense Secretary and his delegation temporarily experienced GPS
jamming when they flew close to Kaliningrad,” said a spokesperson for
United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
“It didn’t threaten the safety of the aircraft and it is not
unusual for aircraft to experience GPS jamming near Kaliningrad, which
is of course Russian territory,” the spokesperson added, claiming that
this type of incident is “not unusual.”
Back in early March, Knewz reported that Russia has been
conducting these types of GPS jamming tests against NATO aircraft for
two years. In early February, the same media outlet said Russia started
testing out a satellite dish system called Tobol that has been jamming
satellite position signals since April 2023.
Several NATO countries say for sure the Kremlin is behind these
GPS jamming incidents, which a Polish defense official added is meant to
send a psychological message to the West.
“Building an atmosphere of threat and a sense of helplessness in
society is undoubtedly one of the goals that Russia is pursuing,” the
official is quoted as saying.
As of March 6, there was reported to be a “high level” of GPS
interference occurring between St. Petersburg, Russia, and the Estonian
border. At least 10 percent of signals in the southeast of Finland are
also seeing interference.
Strangely, very little interference is occurring in Ukraine.Â
EU member claims Putin using top-secret electronic weapon to jam GPS on flights, ships
Estonian military chief Martin Harem claims that
Russian President Vladimir Putin is using top secret electronic weapons
to jam GPS signals on airplanes and shipping vessels, which he says
could result in crashes.
According to Harem, Putin is sparking chaos across the European
Union (EU) by jamming GPS technology along the eastern flank of NATO.
Most of the jamming appears to be centered in the northern half of
Poland and into the waters between Poland and Sweden.
Finland is also reporting problems with its GPS guiding system
for air and sea traffic, along with isolated problems in Latvia and
Lithuania.
“What we have seen is a malfunctioning of GPS for ships and air
travel,” Harem said. “And we really do not know if they [Russia] want to
achieve something or just practice and test their equipment.”
“But definitely, nobody should behave like this, especially when you’re at war with a neighboring country.”
Russia’s Tobol systems are defensive, too
Since the disruptions began, Estonia is the first NATO country to
blame the Kremlin for it. The technology used for the disruptions is
allegedly in Kaliningrad, the location where Putin recently visited to
deliver his harrowing warning against the “vampire” elite throughout the
West.
Kaliningrad is a sliver of land located between Lithuania and
Poland. Russia annexed it from Germany in 1945, and after that time it
was a strategic location for the then-Soviet Union during the Cold War
Era.
It is feared that, should a war break out between Russia and NATO
directly, Kaliningrad will be the location Putin chooses as ground zero.
Western intelligence reports are describing the GPS jamming
technology as Tobol, describing its appearance as a large dish with an
antenna attached to it. There are said to be at least seven Tobol
complexes located throughout Russia.
How it works is a Tobol system will transmit a signal on the same
frequency as a satellite that provides GPS connectivity. The satellite
interprets the Tobol signal as the legitimate one, confusing the system
and its data output to ships and planes.
Dr. Thomas Withington, an electronic warfare expert, says the
dish can be directed to disrupt GPS signals in many directions at one
time. This, he says, is probably how Kaliningrad will protect itself
from incoming missiles in the event war breaks out between Russia and
NATO.
In addition to jamming GPS signals as a defensive weapon, Tobol
systems are also defensive in that they provide an “invisible” shield to
protect against NATO’s arsenal of satellite-guided missile systems.
“This may surprise some people but I think, ostensibly, it’s
defensive,” Withington is quoted as saying. “The Russian military is
highly concerned by global navigation satellite system weapons.”
For the time being, Tobol seems to be primarily an offensive
weapon, being used to damage the shipping industry. Withington says it
is “deeply irresponsible” for Russia to be using the system for such
purposes because “it’s affecting the safety of navigation, degrading the
safety of navigation.”
“The good news is that aircraft and ships have other means of navigation,” Withington says.
“It obviously is a cause of concern if those systems are not
available … so they’re a very valid argument that what the Russians
are doing is deeply irresponsible from a navigation point of view.”
Should World War III break out soon – and by all appearances,
this is a very strong possibility – then full-scale use of Tobol systems
as an offensive weapon as well as a defensive weapon would likely
ensue.Â
(Article by Ethan Huff republished from NaturalNews.com)
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Planet Today
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