Rising Airport Spoofing & Drone Threats – What India Needs Next

Spoofing and jamming in military parlance fall in the domain of Electronic Warfare. In the civilian domain, they can result in disastrous outcomes, particularly when human lives and critical assets are involved.

Jamming is the process of radiating powerful RF signals in specific radio frequencies used by the target receiver. This process saturates the target receiver so that it becomes ineffective due to its inability to process the genuine communication signals, which are lost in the powerful jamming signals.

On the other hand, Spoofing is the process of deceptive manipulation of the navigation system used by the target, be it aircraft, drones or any platform which depends on the GNSS. Spoofing essentially involves imitating a trusted emitter source and feeding inaccurate geographic coordinates, which could be tens or hundreds of kms away from the real position of the aircraft or platform.

Drone incursions are the intentional and unauthorised ingress of hostile drones in the airspace, which is a restricted zone or protected airspace, thereby jeopardising the safety and security of airspace and posing a potential threat to friendly users of airspace, including human lives.

Why traditional airport surveillance often fails to detect these threats?

Traditional airport surveillance fails to detect spoofing and jamming because their focus is on a limited spectrum, and reliance is on aerial surveillance radars, which traditionally detect physical objects via reflections and interrogate aircraft transponders by a system called Identification of Friend or Foe or IFF. Neither radar types analyse GNSS signals, radio noise levels, or GNSS integrity, the typical domains where spoofing and jamming occur. Moreover, spoofing and intelligent jamming are subtle and sometimes intermittent, giving no hint of any deliberate disruptive measures.

In normal airport surveillance, They watch aircraft, not the electromagnetic environment.

Most airports lack multi-sensor cross-validation means they monitor a narrow range of frequencies.

They lack specialised RF anomaly detection and GNSS authentication tools.

They are restricted within their jurisdiction, while most spoofing/jamming emitters operate in adjacent areas outside the jurisdiction of the Airport Authority

Until recently, aviation safety efforts were centred on Hijacking, Terrorism, Mid-air collisions and Runway incursions.

Airport infrastructure was never designed with RF threat detection as a core requirement.

What are the scale of risk posed to pilots, airlines and airport operations?

In recent times, at the global level, jamming and spoofing have become major aviation safety concerns. More so, due to the aircraft’s increasing reliance on satellite navigation, precise timing, and digital systems. Their impact can range from a mild nuisance to a serious operational disruption. The risks are real and can be summarised as follows:

Risks to Pilots could manifest as Loss of Situational Awareness, Approach and Landing Complications, which can endanger passenger safety and increase the risk of controlled flight into terrain.

Risks to Airlines can be in the form of Flight Delays/ Diversions, Loss of Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) capability and Aviation investigations.

Risk to Airport Operations. Mainly, it results in cascading effects due to Air Traffic Flow Disruptions. This can reduce airport capacity by as much as 60% depending on conditions.

To summarise, jamming and spoofing pose serious safety threats, operational, and economic risks. For the pilots, there can be substantial workload spikes, navigational uncertainty and approach complications. For the Airlines, it can cause delays, diversions, higher fuel costs, and maintenance burdens. In the case of airports, it can result in disrupted flow, capacity reductions, and controller overload, which can fall out as increased fatigue, thereby exposing the aviation operations to human error risks.

Can you highlight the security gaps at Indian airports that need urgent attention?

We have seen India’s aviation sector expand very rapidly, and regulators such as BCAS, DGCA, AAI and CISF are seized with the aviation safety concerns and do acknowledge several areas that require urgent modernisation, to tackle the increased traffic, new threat dynamics and operational complexity. Broadly, we may identify the security gaps in the Indian Aviation Sector in the following terms:

Uneven Security Infrastructure Across Tier-2 and Tier-3 Airports. Major airports such as Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru have strong, modern systems, but many smaller airports falling in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities have their challenges in the form of older screening equipment, Limited perimeter surveillance coverage, and fewer trained security personnel.

Other aspects that merit attention from the “Airport Security Gaps” point of view can be summarised as follows:

• Insider Threat Management
• Perimeter Security and Airside Access Control
• Increasing Vulnerability to Electronic and Cyber Threats
• Overdependence on Manual Screening in High-Throughput Airports
• Drone and Low-Altitude Airspace Monitoring
• Emergency Response and Inter-Agency Coordination
• Passenger and Staff Throughput Challenges at Peak Times

Could you talk about the global best practices from airports countering drone/electronic threats?

There are a number of global best practices being adopted, or recommended by airports and aviation regulators around the world to counter drone incursions, electronic threats (jamming, spoofing), and to protect airspace integrity. These practices are adopted in the backdrop of a balanced requirement of safety, legality, and effectiveness. A summary of what works as “best practice” could be:

Use of a” Multi-layered, defence-in-depth” security architecture to avoid the risk of “blind spots.”

Combining perimeter security, intelligence/monitoring, airspace surveillance, and response protocols. For drones/UAS threats, that often involves overlapping detection technologies (radar, RF, optics, acoustic, so that even if one layer misses a threat, another can detect it.

Dedicated Counter-UAS (C-UAS or Anti-Drone) Systems with Advanced Detection & Classification. Airports are increasingly deploying systems explicitly designed to detect unauthorised drones / UAVs

Many airports now prefer a “sensor-fusion” approach (radar + RF + optical + acoustic), which significantly improves detection and identification accuracy compared to any single technique

Safe & Legally Compliant Mitigation Protocols. Because airports must avoid collateral risk (to manned aircraft, communications, navigation systems), best practices emphasize non-destructive, low-impact mitigation.

Integrated Airspace Management & Incident-Reporting Frameworks

Adoption of Tech Advances like AI / ML, Signal Analysis & Spoof/Jam Detection

Policy & Governance Best Practices. Beyond technical solutions, global good practices emphasize clear regulatory frameworks, international cooperation and shared threat intelligence.

So, on account of such a scale of threats, what could be the realistic roadmap for India—layered detection, electronic monitoring, SOPs and rapid-response frameworks?

In the Indian context, there is an urgent need to realistically strengthen airport protection against drones, electronic interference (jamming/spoofing), and other emerging threats. The envisaged policies need to be comprehensive, based on the global best practices, real-world aviation frameworks, and most importantly, they should be practical for India’s regulatory environment and airport diversity (covering Metro to Tier 2 & Tier-3 Airports).

A Realistic, Phased Roadmap for India could be

Phase 1: Foundational Actions (0–12 months), Minimum layers + national SOPs + initial detection systems

Phase 2: — Capability Expansion (1–3 years), Multi-sensor deployment + regional RF monitoring

Phase 3: Full Maturity & Automation (3–5 years), Nationwide integrated platforms + resilient navigation systems

Phase 4: Long-Term Resilience (5+ years), Automation, AI, and continuous national security audits

How do civil aviation and defence-grade technologies collaborate to secure Indian airspace?

Collaboration of civil aviation and defence-grade technologies is indeed overdue. As a first step, we need to establish the Joint Airspace Security Architecture. A joint Airspace Security Architecture would allow these agencies to share sensor data, maintain a national airspace security picture, coordinate incident responses and pool technical expertise. India’s airspace is shared by multiple agencies, like:

• DGCA & BCAS (civil aviation), AAI (Airports Authority of India)
• IAF (air defence), Army and Naval Air Defence.
• DRDO (defence R&D) and ISRO (GNSS, satellites)
• WPC/DoT (spectrum regulation)
• Intelligence agencie

Use Defence-Grade Electronic Monitoring for Civilian Airspace Safety. Advanced capability existing with the defence must be exploited for Spectrum anomaly detection, Early warning of electronic interference, Direction finding of jammers and GNSS signal quality analysis

Adopt Joint Command-and-Control (C2) Protocols for Drone Events and Defence-Inspired Multi-Layer Protection Models like Joint Training, Simulation & Incident Exercises and Centralized Incident Reporting & Forensic Analysis Cell.