Poland has seen a sharp rise in disruptions to satellite navigation this summer, with GPS and other systems failing regularly across the country, according to data from a monitoring station run by Poland’s National Institute of Telecommunications. Figures provided to the Polish Press Agency showed prolonged interruptions across all global navigation satellite system bands, with anomalies recorded since early 2024 but rising steeply in frequency and intensity since the start of 2026.
The scale is striking. In May and June, significant, long-lasting disruptions were recorded on roughly 70% of days, with fully clear days accounting for only around one in ten. Over the first 19 days of August, full-scale disruption hit 63% of days, meaning navigation on smartphones and civilian receivers failed, on average, about two days in every three. The Institute said the source is external and tied to electronic warfare systems operating in the Baltic Sea region.
The effects reach well beyond drivers following a map on their phones. Shared transport systems can show city bikes, scooters and vehicles in the wrong place, while recreational and commercial drone flights grow harder as aircraft lose reliable positioning. Shipping and aviation are affected too. On 21 August, the Polish minehunter ORP Albatros experienced GPS jamming during operations in the Baltic Sea, as NATO’s Joint Force Command Brunssum confirmed. Independent measurements by firms such as Blue Dot Solutions have logged similar patterns, including nearly 90 hours of disruption in Pomerania in July.
Experts at Gdansk University of Technology, the Maritime University of Gdynia and the Institute of Telecommunications have for months pointed to the Kaliningrad region as the main source of interference and signal spoofing. Lithuania reported that spoofing infrastructure there had expanded from a handful of antennas in early 2025 to several dozen, capable of falsifying signals over distances of up to 450 kilometres, potentially covering much of Poland, the Baltic states and parts of the Nordic region. Authorities have urged people not to rely solely on phone maps and to keep offline maps and traditional navigation to hand.
The problem is a European one. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, dozens of similar incidents have been logged across the Baltic, Nordic and Black Sea regions. Western officials point to Russia, which says its actions defend against Ukrainian drones, though Baltic and Scandinavian states argue the reach and intensity amount to systematic provocation. In September 2025, aircraft carrying Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen both reported GPS interference near the region, landing safely on backup systems. NATO says it is stepping up monitoring in response.
