Air carrier captain reported GPS jamming over the Sinai peninsula at the southern tip of Israel and Jordan to just inside of Saudi Arabia.

2024-02 · NASA ASRS report 2083388

Date: 2024-02 · Aircraft: Widebody; Low Wing; 2 Turbojet Eng · Phase: cruise

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-less-severe|inflight-event-encounter-other-unknown|no-specific-anomaly-occurred-unwanted-situation

Synopsis

Air carrier captain reported GPS jamming over the Sinai peninsula at the southern tip of Israel and Jordan to just inside of Saudi Arabia.

Narrative

We observed GPS jamming on L550; B411; UB411; and Y415 between positions LAKTO and BOSAL. In plain language that's the Sinai peninsula; the southern tip of Israel and Jordan to just inside of Saudi Arabia. Due to previous reports and tools; we anticipated this and had already disabled GPS updating in the FMC (around Crete). Following the FAA's most recent SAFO (Safety Alerts for Operators) we had reached out to Dispatch to verify the status of NAVAIDS in the affected area. We prevented loss of navigation accuracy; and it was a non-event. Still; we encountered a situation that; absent preemptive mitigation; may have posed a problem in an area where there is only 3 miles to important international boundaries.Observations were typical for GPS jamming. We got ATC FAULT EICAS messages. This was followed by TERR POS. While GPS updating was disabled I was still able to observe GPS left and right positions. They started showing approximately 2 minutes difference from FMC position then went blank. GPS position on our company ipads were lost. No false positions displayed. GPS data returned and was sufficiently accurate prior to BOSAL. This was in accordance with the map at gpsjam.org.In addition to disabling GPS updating and monitoring NAVAIDs; I turned the radar down to back our position up against prominent terrain features; especially near ULINA. This came in handy; and radar mapping doesn't involve any position input. It may also confuse peoole who arent used alternative uses for weather radar since active use of tilt and manual gain is required. Software uses ADSB reported accuracy and maps those values. This is similar to how we map winds aloft from ADS equipped airplanes. It requires sufficient traffic for the system to process; but may be a valuable tool as GPS interference spreads to new locations in the world. Cause: GPS jamming and other electronic warfare operations.Suggestions: Flight tracking websites rely on ADSB data which was inaccurate during this event. It may be wise to avoid RNAV routes in areas where GPS jamming is known to occur. We were on course; but some software shows us off; based on ADS-B data. In the future this can create problems with diplomatic; navigation fees; etc. Sinai-Israel-Egypt has robust radar coverage. With GPS jamming reports starting to come in from the Sahel and other locales; I believe it's worth improving our system-wide strategy for addressing this. Anomalies will only spread with geopolitical tensions.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.

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