Tel Aviv: Russian GPS denial systems being operated in Syria again disrupted GPS systems in Israel earlier this week.
Israel sent a message to Moscow requesting that the activity cease, but the Russians say it is necessary for defensive measures.
The electromagnetic waves in the eastern Mediterranean are being disrupted by a signal-jamming system operating in the Russian-operated Khmeimim Air Base located southeast of the Syrian port city of Latakia.
Israel is working to neutralise the disruptions to the GPS system, according to the report of the Israel KAN TV channel. The commander of the IDF Spectrum Warfare Centre told KAN that the Russians are not intentionally trying to reduce air safety measures in Israel.
Since the beginning of 2019, the Russian military has been using R-330Zh electronic warfare systems called Zhitel to disrupt GPS signals over Syria, Lebanon and northern Israel. The Russians used these disruptive systems only to test them and their capabilities against Western combat equipment. In 2019 Israel was under a massive GPS denial attack for more than two weeks.
All the official bodies in Israel refrained from blaming someone for the GPS massive jamming. On June 27, the Israeli defence forces radio station “Galey Zahal” blamed Russia. According to this report, the interference of the GPS, which affected aircraft landing and taking off from Ben-Gurion Airport in 2019 were caused by jamming systems operated by the Russian army in Syria. During the 2019 interference, a Russian official told the Israel media that this assessment is “fake news”.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
