LONDON: The signal of the British Royal Air Force aircraft carrying the UK defense minister was jammed as it flew near Russia this week, said a government spokesman on Thursday.
The electronic attack took place on Wednesday evening as Grant Shapps flew back on an air force jet from Poland where he had witnessed a NATO military drill.
A UK government spokesman said the plane experienced GPS jamming for a short period of time when it flew close to Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea, some 1,200 kilometres west of Moscow.
The spokesman said the activity did not threaten the safety of the aircraft and it is not uncommon for a jet to experience GPS jamming near Kaliningrad, which is the territory of Russia.
According to the reports the GPS signal was jammed for about 30 minutes.
During that time mobile phones also lost signals to the internet and the plane was forced to use other methods to determine its position in the air.
Shapps had earlier witnessed hundreds of army troops taking part in the Steadfast Defender exercise — the largest by the US-led military alliance since the Cold War.
The UK is one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters in its two-year war against Russia.
London has pledged more than $8.9 billion of military assistance support to Ukraine and has also trained tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers.
