A military GPS jamming exercise is drawing renewed attention after new reporting suggested it may have contributed to the May accident of a Beechcraft King Air in New Mexico that killed four people. The accident remains under investigation, and no official probable cause has been determined.
According to the report, the twin-engine aircraft was flying from Roswell to Ruidoso when it encountered GPS interference during an electronic warfare exercise near White Sands Missile Range. The crew reportedly lost reliable satellite navigation while approaching mountainous terrain at night. Three other aircraft in the area also experienced GPS disruptions during the exercise, suggesting the interference extended beyond a single flight.
The report said the loss of GPS left the medevac crew with limited navigation capability during a critical phase of flight. The aircraft subsequently struck a mountainside, killing both pilots and two medical crewmembers aboard.
While investigators have linked the GPS outage to the sequence of events, officials have not concluded that military jamming caused the accident. The findings remain preliminary pending completion of the investigation.
The accident has also renewed concern over the increasing frequency of GPS interference. Figures cited from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association show reported GPS disruption events in the continental U.S. climbed from four in 2020 to 50 in 2024, with another 40 incidents recorded in 2025.
I genuinely don’t understand the point of GPS jamming exercises.
The avionics people, if they’re trying to test jamming-resistant equipment, can do that in a controlled environment.
For training, you need dedicated training aircraft with GPS equipment that can be switched, by the trainer, to simulate the effects of various types of jamming.
From the outside, interrupting the GPS system actually used by airliners and civil aircraft is essentially indistinguishable from an attack on our country. And no, NOTAMS that say “we may jam your GPS over 100,000 square miles of the western states at any time over the next 72 hours” don’t really distinguish from an attack. Folks back east may not realize that these NOTAMS are near-continuous in parts of the west (e.g. Arizona, Nevada, southern California).
That said, I’m also genuinely curious. It would be great if a journalist could get someone to explain the purpose and need for these simulated attacks on our country.