The Australian Government should be concerned by reports of an incident in the South China Sea involving the likely interference of communication and navigation systems on commercial airlines by foreign military warships, says Flinders University Professor Samuel Drake.
This follows a notice warning from Qantas pilots about interference on navigation and communication VHF systems from alleged Chinese military stations posing as the Chinese military in the western Pacific and South China Sea area, says Professor Drake, an expert in electromagnetic systems security in the Centre for Defence Engineering Research and Training in the College of Science and Engineering.
In addition, group aircraft have experienced GPS jamming suspected to originate from warships operating off the North-West Shelf of Australia, according to recent media reports.
“While it seems that there is no immediate threat, the situation could change without warning,” warns Professor Drake.
The global positioning system (GPS) is very easy to ‘jam,’ or override the signal with noise. However, it is illegal to do so and, according to the Australian Communications and Media Authority, could result in up to 8 years in prison or over $1 million in fines.
Nevertheless, GPS jammers are widely used, even in Australia.
“There are GPS jammers that can be bought online. These are low powered and are primarily used by drivers who don’t want a recording of their vehicle’s journey to exist, such as someone using a company truck to help a mate move, or myriad other reasons.
“These types of low-powered devices will not interfere with aircraft navigation systems.
“Higher powered devices are involved in the jamming of civilian GPS receivers on commercial aircraft, such as the Qantas plane mentioned in media recently. It is relatively easy. All nation states possess this capability.
“The loss of the GPS signal is not a safety issue as aircraft have other more reliable and robust navigation systems on board.”
On the other hand, “unwarranted VHF communications” from “persons purporting to represent the Chinese military” needs to be considered carefully.
“Firstly, the pilots probably want to keep those communication channels open for emergency communications.
“Secondly it is possible that a foreign military is conducting electronic warfare exercises that may interfere with or damage communication systems and electronic systems on the commercial aircraft.”
According to the media reports, the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations also released a statement revealing it had been “made aware of some airlines and military aircraft” being called over certain VHF numbers radio communication channels “by military warships in the Pacific region, notably South China Sea, Philippine Sea, East of Indian Ocean”.
The IFALPA said it had reason to believe there might be interferences to other Global Navigation Satellite Systems and Radio Altimeter systems too.