What a hacker attack! Ursula von der Leyen’s plane was the victim of an electronic warfare attack (EW)

Redazione RHC : 1 September 2025 15:36

A disturbing episode of electronic warfare (EW) directly involved the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. On approach to Plovdiv Airport in Bulgaria, the jet carrying the European leader suddenly lost all electronic satellite navigation aids, leaving it “in the dark” of GPS signals.

According to the Financial Times and confirmed by European officials, the incident is being treated as an operation of deliberate interference, presumably of Russian origin.

The accident and an “old-fashioned” landing

The aircraft, which had departed from Warsaw and was headed to Plovdiv for an official meeting with the Prime Minister, Bulgarian Rosen Zhelyazkov and a visit to a munitions factory, suddenly found himself without any digital references for the approach to the runway. The entire airport area was “blind” to GPS signals, forcing the crew to fly over the airport for about an hour before deciding on a manual landing with the aid of paper maps. One of the officials informed said: “It was undeniable interference. The entire area was blinded. After the visit, von der Leyen left Plovdiv aboard the same plane without further problems.

Electronic War or Cyber Attack?

Experts distinguish between two Scenarios:

1. Cyberattack on GPS management systems: an action that directly targets the positioning system’s digital and software infrastructure, manipulating data or disrupting its operation.
2. Frequency jamming and spoofing: the obscuring or falsifying of satellite signals through high-power radio emissions that saturate or confuse receivers. This second case falls within the classic definition of Electronic Warfare (EW), which aims to blind, disrupt, or deceive the communications and navigation systems of the enemy.

The evidence gathered in Plovdiv points to GPS frequency jamming, a typical EW operation, closer to field electronic warfare than a traditional cyber attack.

Modern military capabilities increasingly rely on the electromagnetic spectrum. Warfighters rely on the electromagnetic spectrum to communicate with each other and to acquire missions from their commanders. They also use it to understand the environment and make decisions, to accurately identify targets, and to protect their forces from harm.

Electronic warfare provides a vital function: it allows us to protect our access to and use of the electromagnetic spectrum. At the same time, it denies and degrades the use of the spectrum to its direct adversary.

A political message?

The incident comes against a delicate backdrop. Ursula von der Leyen is on a tour of the European Union’s border states to strengthen defense cooperation in response to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Striking the satellite navigation system of the European leader’s plane, if confirmed as a Russian operation, would amount to an act of political and military pressure: a silent warning that brings hybrid warfare directly into the skies of Europe.

Redazione
The editorial team of Red Hot Cyber consists of a group of individuals and anonymous sources who actively collaborate to provide early information and news on cybersecurity and computing in general.

Lista degli articoli