r/CredibleDefense • u/AutoModerator • 8d ago

Active Conflicts & News Megathread September 01, 2025

The r/CredibleDefense daily megathread is for asking questions and posting submissions that would not fit the criteria of our post submissions. As such, submissions are less stringently moderated, but we still do keep an elevated guideline for comments.

Comment guidelines:

Please do:

* Be curious not judgmental, polite and civil,

* Link to the article or source of information that you are referring to,

* Clearly separate your opinion from what the source says. Minimize editorializing. Do _not_ cherry pick facts to support a preferred narrative,

* Read the articles before you comment, and comment on the content of the articles,

* Post only credible information

* Read our in depth rules https://reddit.com/r/CredibleDefense/wiki/rules

Please do not:

* Use memes, emojis, swear, foul imagery, acronyms like LOL, LMAO, WTF,

* Start fights with other commenters and make it personal,

* Try to push narratives, fight for a cause in the comment section, nor try to 'win the war,'

* Engage in baseless speculation, fear mongering, or anxiety posting. Question asking is welcome and encouraged, but questions should focus on tangible issues and not groundless hypothetical scenarios. Before asking a question ask yourself 'How likely is this thing to occur.' Questions, like other kinds of comments, should be supported by evidence and must maintain the burden of credibility.

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u/RobotWantsKitty 7d ago

Flightradar24:

We are seeing media reports of GPS interference affecting the plane carrying Ursula von der Leyen to Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Some reports claim that the aircraft was in a holding pattern for 1 hour.

This is what we can deduce from our data.

  • The flight was scheduled to take 1 hour and 48 minutes. It took 1 hour and 57 minutes.
  • The aircraft's transponder reported good GPS signal quality from take-off to landing.

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u/carkidd3242 7d ago edited 7d ago

An actual airline pilot will have to comment here, but ADS-B what is self-reporting is the quality of the positioning reporting of the aircraft, which is not necessarily only provided by GPS. The Dassault Falcon 900EX she was in could have instantly failed over to a combination of INS and automatic triangulation by ground navigation signals and never have actually lost quality position reporting despite losing access to GPS.

The jet, which was chartered by the European Commission for the trip, was unable to use electronic navigational aids as a result of the interference while approaching the airport at Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second-largest city.

"Air Traffic Services immediately proposed an alternative landing approach using ground-based navigation aids (Instrument Landing System). The ground-based navigation aids used in Bulgaria are independent of GPS systems," a press release from the Bulgarian government said.

The best way to verify this story would be the ATC radio transcripts.

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u/adfjsdfjsdklfsd 7d ago

The radio comms of the incident have been posted on X/Twitter

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u/kevloral 6d ago

I have looked it up and the recording in that tweet can be found in the LiveATC archives: https://www.liveatc.net/archive.php?m=lbsf2_lbpd_twr

Day: August 31

Select a time (GMT/UTC): 1430-1500Z

And then start listening at 4:25