Key points
- Government confirms GPS spoofing and GNSS interference affecting Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Amritsar and Bengaluru airports.
- DGCA made reporting of every GPS jamming or spoofing event mandatory in November 2023, and issued a new SOP in November 2025 for real time reporting.
- Minister Ram Mohan Naidu told Parliament that when satellite navigation is affected, India’s minimum operating network of traditional ground based aids can safely handle flights.
- Wireless Monitoring Organisation has been tasked to help locate the source of spoofing, and extra monitoring and technical investigations are underway.
- Multiple aircraft near Delhi recently saw false GPS positions for several dozen miles around the airport, forcing some diversions and use of contingency procedures.
In a written reply in Parliament, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu confirmed that some flights on GPS based approaches to Runway 10 at Delhi’s IGI Airport experienced spoofed satellite signals, while other runways using conventional navigation aids continued normally. The minister said similar GPS or GNSS interference has been reported from other major hubs including Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Amritsar and Bengaluru since DGCA made reporting mandatory in 2023.
The government has directed the Wireless Monitoring Organisation to deploy more resources to identify the likely source areas of spoofing, based on locations and timelines shared by DGCA and Airports Authority of India. Officials told Parliament that monitoring, data analysis and technical investigations have been strengthened, and that all major airports are now logging such events systematically so that quick operational action can be taken.
DGCA rules and reporting
Following early incidents, DGCA first issued Advisory Circular ANSS AC 01 in 2023 to raise awareness about GNSS interference and to define roles, contingency procedures and NOTAM use in affected airspace. In November 2025, the regulator went further with a detailed SOP around IGI Delhi and a nationwide directive that any abnormal GPS behaviour must be reported within 10 minutes by pilots, ATC and airlines.
The circular instructs operators to capture time, flight details, route, coordinates, type of interference (jamming, spoofing, signal loss or integrity error) and affected systems, along with logs or screenshots wherever possible. According to official data presented in technical briefings, India has logged around 465 GPS interference or spoofing incidents between late 2023 and early 2025, with many along border sectors near Amritsar and Jammu as well as in busy terminal airspace like Delhi.
What is GPS spoofing
GPS spoofing is a form of cyberattack in which an attacker transmits fake satellite like signals so that receivers on an aircraft or any GPS based device lock onto the bogus source instead of genuine satellites. When that happens, onboard navigation systems may display a position, altitude or track that does not match reality, leading to false warnings, phantom terrain alerts or incorrect guidance on the flight management system.
Unlike simple GPS jamming, which usually causes loss of signal, spoofing can be more dangerous because it looks like valid data and may not immediately be recognised as wrong by automation. Modern airliners increasingly use satellite based procedures (such as RNP and RNAV) for fuel efficient routing and precision approaches, so corrupt GNSS inputs can directly affect flight paths near busy airports.
How it endangers flights
- Direct navigation and airspace risk, Modern aircraft rely heavily on GNSS for lateral and vertical guidance, so corrupted position data can make flights drift off their cleared route, cut into protected zones or get too close to restricted or sensitive areas near big cities.
- Safety-critical systems at risk, Runway awareness tools, terrain avoidance and autopilot modes often depend on accurate GPS inputs, so spoofed signals can trigger nuisance terrain warnings, wrong runway cues or force crews to disconnect automation at demanding phases of flight.
- Higher landing and approach danger, During low visibility approaches close to the ground, false glide path or track information can cause misalignment with the runway, unstable approaches or go arounds, which is why airlines are being told to fall back quickly to ground based aids when spoofing is suspected.
- Extra burden on air traffic control, If several aircraft in the same terminal area report GNSS issues at once, controllers must rely entirely on radar and voice position reports, making it harder to maintain separation and sequence traffic at already saturated hubs like Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.
