Electronic warfare

NATO chief says allies concerned about Russian phone jamming

NATO allies have raised concerns about what they call Russia’s use of a kind of electronic warfare during military exercises last month that jammed some phone networks, alliance Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Oct. 26.

“At least two allies have reported about that,” Stoltenberg told reporters after chairing talks in Brussels between ambassadors from NATO and Russia. He said it highlights the need for Russia to be more transparent with war games “to make sure there are no miscalculations, misunderstandings, because these kinds of activities can have serious effects.”

Phone services in Latvia, Norway and Sweden’s Oeland islands were reported to have been shut down for a few hours during the Sept. 14-20 Zapad exercises that Russia held with Belarus. The jamming is suspected to have been launched by a Russian communications ship from the Baltic Sea.

...“Mostly likely this was jamming that was intended to disrupt their own Russian forces’ use of GPS — but jamming that had side effects for (airline) and intercontinental flights of which Russia should have seen the range.”