Chennai, Bengaluru among airports where aircraft encountered GPS spoofing

Complaints regarding GPS spoofing or counterfeit satellite signals experienced by aircraft were received from airports in Kolkata, Amritsar, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai, the Centre informed Parliament on Monday (December 1, 2025).

In response to a question, Minister for Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu admitted that “some flights” encountered GPS spoofing in the vicinity of Delhi airport as reported by The Hindu on November 7 about such events in the first week of the month.

The Minister said following the events, “the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has requested Wireless Monitoring Organisation (WMO) to identify the source of interference/ spoofing.” The WMO has also been directed to mobilise more resources to trace the sources based on approximate spoofing location details shared by the DGCA and the AAI. Mr. Naidu was responding to a question from YSRCP MP S. Niranjan Reddy.

The Hindu had reported that for nearly a week in early November, aircraft within 60 nautical miles of Delhi airport experienced counterfeit GNSS signals indicating incorrect aircraft positions and misleading terrain warning.

Airline crew and air traffic controllers were taken aback as there was no information about such activity though these occurrences have become common along Indian borders with Pakistan and Myanmar where GNSS spoofing is deployed to counter drone activities.

Subsequently, Indian defense forces issued notice to airmen alerting aircraft about possible GNSS signal disruption along air routes near Mumbai and Kolkata because of military exercises in those regions, leading many to believe that the incidents in Delhi were also related to Indian military tri-services exercises and IAF’s Exercise MahaGujRaj-25 that were underway at that time in the north-western parts of India, including Rajasthan and Gujarat.