Repeated Attacks Degrade GPS Signal Integrity

Surrounded by hostile nations and socio-theological discord, Israel has been the target of near-perpetual attacks by elements both known and unknown since the diminutive Middle Eastern nation’s May 1948 inception.

In the late 20th and early 21st Centuries, attacks by groups antithetical to Israeli convention and hostile to its government and people have targeted numerous facets of the country’s infrastructure, including assets essential to safe air-navigation.

Of late, attacks on Israeli cities have interfered with the transmission and reception of GPS signals to such a degree that passenger aircraft bound for Ben Gurion International Airport (TLV) in the Israeli city of Lod (some 24-nautical-miles northwest of Jerusalem) have been obligated to operate along alternative routes over Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria. Subject routes are longer and less convenient than those facilitating direct approaches to Ben Gurion International Airport over the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

In the absence of reliable GPS reception, aircraft operating in the vicinity of TLV must rely upon legacy, ground-based navigational aids the likes of VORs. Similarly, aircraft inbound to TLV are limited to ILS and various non-precision approach procedures. While proven and sufficiently accurate to ensure safety of flight, such procedures are susceptible to signal jamming or corruption, and can be negated altogether by means of Rocket-Propelled-Grenade (RPG) or Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attacks on VOR installations or localizer shacks.

Unhappy with the atypical aircraft traffic patterns, residents of Israeli settlements such as Modi'in Illit, Hashmonaim, Lapid, and Kfar Oranim took to registering complaints vis-à-vis the "unbearable" noise of passenger jets passing overhead at all hours of day and night.

Confronted with large numbers of such complaints, Israeli authorities deigned to alert the public of the fact the unpopular route changes had been necessitated by terrorist attacks on the nation.

FMI: www.timesofisrael.com