Navigational Spoofing: Challenges in the Middle East Skies

A report by Lara al-Hachem, English adaptation by Nadine Sassine 

Imagine that the navigation radar system recorded a flight of a Cessna aircraft coming from Tel Aviv to Beirut. In another scenario, a plane was spotted above Hamra while it was actually landing on a runway at Rafic Hariri Beirut International Airport. What happened?

These cases often result from cyberattacks in the Middle East region that manipulate navigation systems or what is known as spoofing. But first, let's understand how aircraft move.

In the air, there are air routes similar to ground routes, and each aircraft flying is connected to a navigation system linked in turn to GPS. Before takeoff, the captain sets the flight path on the GPS map and flies accordingly.

However, if the GPS receives incorrect signals, it will provide incorrect coordinates for the aircraft, suggesting it is in another location. But is the deception targeting a specific airspace like Beirut, or is it aimed at the entire Middle East navigation system?

No matter how advanced technology becomes, primitive solutions seem to be still effective. All aircraft rely on two systems that work in parallel: GPS in space and a ground-based navigation system that sends ground signals.

Once these systems give more than one different coordinate at different levels, such as speed, altitude, and location, the captain must be alert to the fault and rely on the ground system. Therefore, pilot readiness and training remain essential to avoid aviation accidents. Most importantly, continuous maintenance of these ground systems enhances pilots' confidence in them.