For three hours last Thursday, the plane carrying the British Defense Minister, John Healey, was the target of a massive electronic warfare attack. The GPS stopped working. Electronic devices could not connect to the internet. The instrument panel experienced failures. The plane's pilot had to navigate using inertial navigation, as was done decades ago.
It was not an accident but an electronic warfare attack. This is the belief of the British government, which has labeled the action as "reckless" and attributed it to Russia, a country with a long history of interfering in the airspace of its Western neighbors, including the Baltic Republics - of which Estonia is a part - and Poland. According to sources, the attack occurred as the plane was taking off, causing the electronic systems of the 'Falcon' to be disabled for the remainder of the journey. The only way to restore normal function would have been to reset them, requiring the 'Falcon' to land. The British Air Force deemed that the threat was not severe enough to justify that decision.
This is the second time that this particular aircraft - also used by King Charles III for his travels - has been subjected to an electronic warfare attack in the Baltic region while the Defense Minister was on board. The first instance was in 2024, during the conservative government of Rishi Sunak, with Grant Shapps as the minister.
The aircraft is a French-made Dassault Falcon 900LX. In fact, the Falcon 900 is also in service in the Spanish Air Force and is relatively frequently used by President Pedro Sánchez for his travels, such as when he flew to the FIB festival in Castellón to see the indie rock band 'The Killers' in July 2018.
Healey was not going to listen to music. He was returning to London with a three-star lieutenant general whose name has not been disclosed after visiting the 900 British soldiers deployed in Estonia as part of NATO's frontline defense against potential Russian aggression.
The attack occurred on the minister's return trip to London, and perhaps most surprisingly, according to the London newspaper 'The Times,' it lasted throughout the entire duration of the flight. Furthermore, as reported by the same source, British State Falcons do not have electronic countermeasures to combat these types of attacks due to budget constraints. In addition to Healey and the military personnel, there were two photographers and a journalist from 'The Times' on the flight.