An aircraft suddenly lost all electronic signals while flying over the Baltic Sea in April 2024! As the pilot had no idea what happened, he immediately contacted the technicians. Unfortunately, the technicians, too, failed to understand what happened with the plane. Interestingly, the signals came back again after some time! There is a Russian naval base in Kaliningrad near the borders with Poland and Lithuania. The Global Positioning System (GPS) or other electronic signals of aircraft often do not work when passing through that particular area of the Baltic Sea!

Experts are of the opinion that a secret Russian weapon, called Tobol, is disrupting the electronic signals. Russia is using Tobol in the Baltic Sea region. Hence, when an aircraft comes to the Russian borders, its GPS or other electronic signals stop working. Many believe that the Kremlin has started electronic warfare. Tobol mainly hits the satellite navigation system of an aircraft, creating a possibility for the aeroplane to lose control over its electronic devices, temporarily!

The Sun recently published an image of a satellite dish claimed to be at the Russian naval base in Kaliningrad. This dish is basically a Tobol that Russia is using to attack the electronic systems of aircraft! As expected, the image that got published has triggered an uproar across the globe. Although there is no official confirmation in this regard, The Sun has claimed that Russia has a total of 10 Tobols.

A section of experts has opined that the Vladimir Putin Administration is using Tobol to protect the Russian military bases from NATO missiles. If an enemy plans to launch a missile attack on Russia, it will be possible for Moscow to stop such an attack in the air with the help of this secret weapon. The Washington Post has reported that the signals sent by Tobol disrupt various other electronic signals. As a result, the users of other electronic devices start getting wrong information.

According to US intelligence sources, Russia is using Tobol mainly to disrupt Starlink transmission in Ukraine. It may be noted that all communications in Ukraine are carried out through satellite networks, such as Starlink. Tobol attacks those networks.

All modern aircraft, too, use satellite navigation systems, like GPS and Galileo; as aircraft communication systems depend on these systems. The satellite navigation systems guide the pilots in mid-air by sending signals through which the communication system of an aircraft works. If someone intentionally jams those signals, then the entire communication system of the aircraft is disrupted. Tobol jams all the satellite signals of the aircraft.

Russia continues to escalate attacks on Ukraine. Sometimes, Moscow changes its tactics. Even after 25 months of intense fighting, there has been no change in the scenario. According to defence experts, the Kremlin has adopted new tactics to create an obstacle to get in touch with Kiev on the battlefield. Now, the Russians are trying to put Ukraine under pressure by using Tobol. Meanwhile, the Western countries have claimed that Russia has been trying to disable GPS or any electronic signal system from Finland to the Black Sea since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine War on February 24, 2022.

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Facebook

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Twitter

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Linkedin

Contact: kousdas@gmail.com

Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das