How India’s Planes Are Being Hacked Mid‑Air: GPS Spoofing Explained

Indian aviation has been facing persistent GPS spoofing incidents for over a year, affecting flights approaching major airports including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Amritsar. In these attacks, ground-based transmitters broadcast powerful false GPS signals that overpower genuine satellite signals, causing aircraft navigation systems to display incorrect positions, often hundreds of kilometres away from the actual location. The spoofing has triggered erroneous terrain warnings and degraded navigation accuracy, leading to significant delays and diversions, particularly in November 2025.Despite the frequency of incidents, no safety compromise has occurred as flight crews promptly revert to conventional ground-based navigation aids such as ILS and VOR.Authorities have responded decisively. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has mandated immediate reporting of all events, reactivated legacy navaids across airports, and accelerated deployment of anti-spoofing technology. Efforts are also underway to enhance reliance on India’s NavIC constellation, which offers encrypted signals resistant to such interference. Investigations continue to identify and neutralise the mobile spoofing sources.