An RAF jet carrying UK Defence Secretary John Healey had its GPS signal jammed for the entire three-hour flight on Thursday as it crossed near the Russian border, forcing the crew to switch to another navigation system. Healey was flying back to the UK after visiting British troops in Estonia, and passengers on board, including photographers and a reporter, found their smartphones and laptops could not connect to the internet.
The aircraft could still fly safely, but the disruption turned a routine return trip into another example of the electronic pressure European flights can face near Russian territory. The plane’s path was visible on tracking websites, underscoring how public the incident became even as its cause remained unresolved.
It is thought Russia was behind the attack, though it is not clear whether Healey was deliberately targeted. That uncertainty matters because the flight involved a senior British minister, not just a military aircraft, and the jamming lasted far longer than a similar incident in March 2024, when an RAF plane carrying then-defence secretary Grant Shapps lost its GPS signal for about 30 minutes on a flight back to the UK from Poland.
Healey had just met Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur in Tallinn to discuss long-term bilateral defence cooperation and its expansion, a meeting that took place against a wider backdrop of rising Russian military pressure. Last month, Healey said the UK had tracked three Russian submarines that loitered over critical undersea infrastructure in the North Atlantic for a month before sailing away, and on Wednesday the Ministry of Defence disclosed that two Russian jets had repeatedly and dangerously intercepted an RAF spy plane above the Black Sea.
The latest jamming incident also threw the professionalism of the crew into sharp relief. Healey praised the RAF team for continuing with the mission despite the danger, and said the episode would not deter the UK’s commitment to defend Nato, its allies and its interests from Russian aggression. What remains unanswered is who carried out the interference on this flight, and whether Healey himself was the intended target.
