Smartphone App, for Years, Exposed the Location of Japan’s Air Force One

A Swedish-made mobile app was leaking the flight path of Japan’s government aircraft for years.

Japan’s Defense Ministry asked the developer of “Flightradar 24” to bottle the sensitive information after the lapse was pointed out by The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper. 

“Flightradar 24” became available in 2006.

The company has since taken the necessary steps to hide the aircraft.

"The ministry asked the company to make the change on August 8 and confirmed the firm took action on August 27," a ministry spokesman told AFP. 

The app works by tracking data from the onboard ADS-B (automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast) transponder, a technology that allows an aircraft to identify its position via satellite. That data is periodically broadcast for tracking purposes to avoid midair collisions.

“When a user taps an airplane icon on the map, the app instantly shows flight data including latitude, longitude, speed, altitude, route, descending or climbing rate and aircraft type, together with a photo. The function exposes take-off and landing times, which are the likeliest windows for terrorists to attack an aircraft,” according to The Yomiuri Shimbun.

Japan’s Air Force One transports the prime minister and senior government officials for overseas visits. The aircrafts’ routes are not supposed to be disclosed.

The planes apparently broadcast signals during takeoff and landing due to the regulations of certain countries.

The routes of U.S. presidential plane Air Force One are not displayed by the app because it does not broadcast an ADS-B signal.

Some Japan Self-Defense Forces previously had discussed the app’s sensitive disclosures, but the matter was not seen as urgent.

Kazuki Sugiura, an aviation analyst, told the newspaper: “The government aircraft could have been targeted by terrorists during take-off or landing, when speed and altitude are low. The Defense Ministry’s awareness about safety management was at a low level.”