Goma, DRC (Agencies): Rwanda has deployed electronic warfare systems to disrupt and spoof GPS signals in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to the latest report from the United Nations Group of Experts on the DRC.
Released on January 7, the report stated that GPS jamming and spoofing were experienced from late May to early August 2024 near areas controlled by the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) and the Mouvement du 23 Mars (M23) Congolese rebel group that it supports. The report provided coordinates for two electronic warfare systems deployed inside Rwanda close to the border and a third in Kanyabayonga soon after it was captured by the RDF and M23 on June 27.
One of the systems deployed in Rwanda was located on a hill overlooking the border city of Goma, which serves as the main base for the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC), the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), and the Southern African Development Community Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC) in North Kivu province. The second system was deployed 98 km to the south at Kamembe Airport, which RDF uses as a base for its Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
The Group of Experts report noted that a UAV operated by MONUSCO was targeted by GPS jamming before it crashed on October 29. The report included a map showing the UAV drifting off course after it began to experience jamming near Mpeti, approximately 50 km southwest of the coordinates given for the electronic warfare system deployed at Kanyabayonga.