A series of GPS and GNSS spoofing incidents at major Indian airports has prompted the Ministry of Civil Aviation to acknowledge rising concerns over aviation safety and signal integrity.

On Monday (December 1), the government confirmed that airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Amritsar, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai have all reported attempts to interfere with aircraft navigation systems by feeding them false signals.

“Some flights reported GPS spoofing in the vicinity of IGIA, New Delhi while using GPS based landing procedures, while approaching on RWY (runway) 10. Contingency procedures were used for GPS spoofed flights approaching to RWY 10,” Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu said in a written reply to YSRCP MP S. Niranjan Reddy in the Rajya Sabha, as reported by The New Indian Express.

“There were no effects on movements of flights, on other runway ends having conventional navigational aids being operational,” Naidu added.

According to the minister, the Airports Authority of India has asked the Wireless Monitoring Organisation (WMO) to trace the source of the spoofing attempts.

“During the high-level meeting, WMO was directed to mobilise more resources to identify the source of spoofing based on approximate spoofing location details shared by DGCA and AAI,” Naidu said.

He further noted that “GNSS interference reports are being received from Kolkata, Amritsar, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai airports.”

Last month, the DGCA instructed airlines, pilots and air traffic controllers to report any GPS spoofing incidents within 10 minutes of their occurrence, in an effort to improve detection and response.

“To enhance cyber security against global threats, AAI is implementing advanced cyber security solutions for IT networks and infrastructure. These actions have been taken in accordance with the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) and Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) guidelines,” the minister stated.