Explainer: GPS spoofing likely made Sialkot-bound flight appear to land in IIOJK

Flight-tracking services are showing unusual glitches in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and Sialkot regions amid abnormal GPS signal disruptions during the ongoing war in the Middle East.

In one recent instance, Qatar Airways flight QR630, which arrived from Doha around 2:15am on Saturday-Sunday night, was shown on FlightRadar24 as diverting to IIOJK’s Jammu airport while it was on approach to Sialkot.

The apparent discrepancy has been attributed to possible GPS spoofing, signal jumps or location glitches in the tracking data. Similar instances were reported in June this year, when three flights were shown at incorrect locations on their approach to Sialkot.

On June 26, flight FZ337 from Dubai landed normally at Sialkot airport, but tracking data showed it as diverted to IIOJK’s Jammu. On June 27, flight G9552 from Sharjah and flight FZ337 from Dubai also landed in Sialkot, while tracking data showed apparent alternative landings at IIOJK’s Jammu airport.

Similar location errors have also been observed involving flights operating to Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport.

Aviation experts say GPS spoofing, signal jumps, location glitches or ADS-B data errors can cause tracking websites to display an incorrect aircraft position. ADS-B relies on satellite-based positioning, meaning interference can affect the location information being broadcast.

Such discrepancies have also previously been observed with ships and other vehicles, which can appear at incorrect locations on digital tracking platforms when positioning data is affected

The proximity of Sialkot and IIOJK’s Jammu — around 40 kilometres apart — may contribute to the tracking system displaying the IIOJK region as an alternative location when position data becomes unreliable.

According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) experts, the apparent tracking errors do not necessarily indicate a problem with the aircraft’s own navigation system. Instead, they can occur because of a mismatch between satellite signals and data displayed by third-party flight-tracking websites.