Exercise Ghost Signal

A wave of satellite navigation interference spreads across Northern Europe. Aircraft report conflicting positioning data. Airport towers struggle to establish which systems can be trusted.

As interference intensifies, aviation authorities in several European countries order emergency ground stops, suspending commercial flight operations. Thousands of flights are cancelled, aircraft are diverted and hundreds of thousands of passengers are stranded.

Within hours, disruption spreads across Europe. Airlines face mounting losses, major airports become overwhelmed and critical cargo is delayed. Supply chains begin to fracture and logistics operators confront similar navigation failures.

Then intelligence emerges suggesting a coordinated electronic attack by a hostile state.

Governments disagree over attribution. Markets react. The public demands answers.

What began as a technical disruption has become a major international crisis, threatening public safety, economic stability and national security.

Test how major transport operators and government agencies respond to widespread satellite navigation disruption, including coordinated aviation ground stops and cascading failures across European transport networks.

The exercise examines how organisations maintain essential operations, manage economic disruption and coordinate critical decisions when the systems they depend upon become unreliable.

Foresight recreates the operational environment through simulated aviation alerts, maritime reports, intelligence assessments, breaking news and rapidly changing disruption forecasts.

AI-powered characters represent pilots, airline executives, airport operators, regulators, government officials and major customers, providing critical intelligence, challenging decisions and placing competing demands on participants.

As European airspace begins shutting down, participants must make urgent decisions about passenger safety, aircraft diversions, contingency operations and the restoration of critical services.

Every decision creates consequences elsewhere. Diversions overwhelm neighbouring airports. Aircraft and flight crews are stranded far from their scheduled locations. Meanwhile, governments face growing pressure to establish whether the interference is accidental, criminal or a deliberate act of aggression.

Participants must coordinate across organisational and national boundaries while managing mounting economic losses, public scrutiny and the possibility of further escalation.

Testing resilience when critical systems cannot be trusted.

• Managing a European aviation shutdown

  Participants confront the consequences of coordinated ground stops across several countries. Airlines and airport operators must manage grounded fleets, diverted aircraft, stranded passengers and disrupted flight schedules. The exercise tests how authorities coordinate the safe resumption of operations when navigation systems remain unreliable.

• Understanding cascading infrastructure failures

  Aviation disruption rapidly affects logistics, manufacturing, healthcare and international trade. Participants must establish priorities, identify alternative transport routes and coordinate scarce capacity across competing industries.

• Strengthening government–industry coordination

  The scenario challenges national aviation authorities, transport operators, regulators and government crisis teams to coordinate decisions across borders. Participants establish a shared operational picture, develop joint situation reports and clarify responsibility for decisions that affect multiple jurisdictions.

• Responding to a suspected hostile operation

  As intelligence suggests deliberate interference, governments must balance operational safety with national security considerations. Participants examine the evidence, coordinate with allies and consider diplomatic or other responses without escalating a confrontation on the basis of unverified intelligence.

• Protecting public confidence

  Hundreds of thousands of stranded passengers, mounting economic losses and conflicting media reports create intense pressure for answers. Participants practice communicating difficult safety decisions, explaining uncertainty and coordinating public messaging across governments and commercial operators.

• Turning disruption into practical improvements

  Foresight captures decisions, communications and coordination throughout the exercise, providing a structured record for analysis. The debrief examines critical dependencies, contingency arrangements and cross-sector coordination, identifying corrective actions to strengthen organisational and national resilience.