Air carrier First Officer reported a GPS jamming/spoofing event at cruise altitude that was confirmed by ATC. This led to the aircraft making uncommanded movement and navigational systems to malfunction; leaving the aircraft with 1 GPS. After communicating with Dispatch and Maintenance; the flight crew opted to divert.

Date: 2024-10 · Aircraft: Commercial Fixed Wing · Phase: cruise

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-less-severe|deviation-track-heading-all-types|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance

Synopsis

Air carrier First Officer reported a GPS jamming/spoofing event at cruise altitude that was confirmed by ATC. This led to the aircraft making uncommanded movement and navigational systems to malfunction; leaving the aircraft with 1 GPS. After communicating with Dispatch and Maintenance; the flight crew opted to divert.

Narrative

While in cruise; we as a crew received an ECAM Message of NAV ADS-B RPTG 1 FAULT then a few seconds later a NAV ADS-B 2 FAULT. I inquired about radar jamming in White Sands and ATC confirmed it for us; so we kept on monitoring our GPS. Then we received NAV BKUP SPD FAULT followed by NAV GPS1 FAULT and NAV GPS2 FAULT. This is about the time the aircraft started to turn to the right while on NAV mode and we didn't command it to do anything. We then zoomed out of the Navigation Display (ND) and noticed it was showing we were off our route by at least 130 miles to the south when we were according to ATC in fact to the north of our course. We crosschecked the GPS and Air Data Inertial Reference System (ADIRS) and GPS. Was showing nothing and ADIRS were showing nothing as well. We requested a heading at first and we had a tailwind to the right. By this time we were about over ELP and ATC stated that in 60 miles we should be out of it and when able go direct to ZZZ. We switched ATC sectors and got a new heading and were told to a new heading then were told we should be good and we were out of the radar jamming zone. We noticed another Company flight in front and it was quiet so we requested them to go to 123.45. We stated our problem with the bank after losing GPS and they were puzzled as well. We carried on to our flight and with 1 GPS being received.We went to ZZZ and told ATC. I was curious to see if we were indeed on course to ZZZ and they said our mileage was 583 miles to ZZZ and we were showing 436 miles. My Captain goes on with our Dispatcher and Maintenance on AIRINC for what seemed like 20 minutes. When I overheard the thinking of any other action items we could do to get our GPS and ADIRS back; they said no due to the procedures can only be done on the ground. Then the Captain [said] should we even continue with this anomaly and they recommended we divert to ZZZ1 and we asked ATC how far ZZZ1 was and it was 75 miles. I was thinking about the FAs and told them we might be diverting due to the issue with our GPS and the Captain will talk to them. Then I overheard my Captain asking to Maintenance and our Dispatcher if they are okay with diverting to ZZZ1 all said yes so we [requested priority handling] and proceeded to divert. Cause: Unknown/human error/monitoring - we as a crew were unaware of the White Sands radar jamming and once we experienced our GPS issue we asked ATC if it was going on that night. Automation management - once GPS was off course the aircraft started and immediate turn to the right and we just pulled heading to not go wherever it wanted to go. Communications - verifying our issue with ATC and making sure we were headed the right way and to reduce our workload. Crosschecking every now and then our location and what they are showing helps identify where we are and what's going on for our location and situational awareness. With communication with our Dispatcher and Maintenance departments along with ATC helped minimize the workload for diverting.

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