A Spanish military aircraft carrying Defense Minister Margarita Robles experienced a GPS malfunction on Wednesday morning. At the time, it was flying near the Russian region of Kaliningrad on its way to Lithuania, the ministry said without providing further details.
In addition to Robles, several family members of Spanish Air Force pilots were on board, who were deployed as part of a NATO mission to protect the airspace of the eastern wing. The alliance has stationed air forces there in response to a drone incident in Poland.
Robles was scheduled to visit the Lithuanian air base in Šiauliai later in the day to meet with her Lithuanian counterpart, Dovilé Šakaliené.
The Spanish contingent, known as Mission Vilkas, after the Lithuanian word for wolf, intercepted eight Russian aircraft over the Baltic Sea last week, the Spanish Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
“There was an attempt to jam the GPS signal, but since our aircraft has an encrypted system, it was not affected,” a spokesman for the Spanish Ministry of Defense explained. “This must be standard practice on this route and also on commercial flights. It is not because it is our aircraft,” he added.
