Bulgaria disables GPS jammer that disrupted Sofia Airport navigation signals

Bulgaria's State Agency for National Security says it has found and disabled a powerful jamming device that had been blocking GPS signals across Sofia, including frequencies used at Sofia Airport. Working with the Communications Regulation Commission and local police, the agency traced the device to a guarded property in the Dragalevtsi district of the capital.

The agency said the jammer had been interfering with satellite navigation used by the airport, by aircraft flying over the city, and by television broadcast towers. No information was released about who owned or operated the device, and no arrests were announced.

Transport and Communications Minister Georgi Peev said the interference was detected on August 21, 2026. He confirmed that satellite-based navigation had been compromised, with some effect on flight management systems, but said safety was not affected because crews switched to ground-based navigation aids instead. Air traffic controllers had flagged the interference, which led security services to search for and remove its source.

Sofia Airport's press office told the Bulgarian News Agency that operations had continued normally throughout, with no delays reported.

A different account came from Aleksandar Bogoyavlenski, a commercial pilot and aviation journalist, who told Bulgarian National Radio that GPS problems affecting flights to and from Sofia had persisted for at least three days, and possibly longer, with signals dropping out almost continuously during that period. He said no safety issues or delays occurred, since aircraft were able to rely on other navigation methods.

The discrepancy between the airport's account of a single-day event and the pilot's description of a multi-day disruption has not been resolved.