A warning to pilots was issued in the Svalbard archipelago in July 2025 after Norwegian officials determined there had been attempts to confuse flight traffic using deceptive spoofing techniques, a longtime Russian tactic. Demilitarized by treaty, Svalbard lies at the edge of the Arctic, a region rich in resources with increasingly more navigable shipping routes as sea ice melts. Although no actor has been identified in the latest incident, it is the first attempt to disrupt air travel to the world’s northernmost airport with regular passenger service.
Spoofing deceives GPS receivers with false signals, causing aeronautic systems to calculate an incorrect position. The tactic is difficult for pilots to detect. The Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) on July 8, immediately after being notified of the spoofing attacks, reported the Barents Observer, a Norwegian newspaper. The notification warns about both jamming and spoofing in the airspace under 2,895 meters.
A group of five large islands and several smaller ones, Svalbard is Norway’s northernmost territory. Flights to Oslo and Tromsø on the Norwegian mainland leave daily from Longyearbyen airport at Svalbard, which also houses Norway’s high Arctic search and rescue helicopters and other passenger and ambulance services to the mainland for the isolated islands’ approximately 2,530 residents.
The Svalbard Treaty of 1920 recognizes Norwegian sovereignty over the archipelago with certain stipulations, including a ban on military installations in the islands. Russian interest in the area has been longstanding. The former Soviet Union proposed a joint Norway-Soviet rule for the archipelago after the end of World War II, which Norway rejected before joining NATO in 1947.
Under the treaty, Russia has economic rights in the territory but has made several moves that concerned Norwegians in recent years. The Russian Consul General of Barentsburg held a Victory Day procession in 2023, and three Soviet flags were erected in the region in 2024: two in Pyramiden and one in Barentsburg. Some observers think Russia is ratcheting up the stakes as its Arctic ambitions increase. Numerous sabotage incidents at Norwegian air bases and satellite installations in recent years are believed to have been sponsored by Moscow. Russia also is linked to cutting undersea communication and other infrastructure cables in the region, including near Svalbard.
In recent years, the Norwegian Coast Guard has made regular visits, and cooperation between local authorities and the Norwegian military has strengthened. In late 2023, the chief of the Norwegian Joint Headquarters, the operational command center of the Norwegian Armed Forces, arrived in Svalbard on the Norwegian Coast Guard vessel KV Svalbard in a show of Norwegian resolve.