Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio frequency interference (RFI) has become a growing operational threat to civil aviation, especially in and around conflict-affected regions. This article develops a publication-ready case study of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), focusing on repeated GNSS jamming and spoofing events reported in the eastern portion of the Kinshasa Flight Information Region (FIR) between May 2024 and January 2025. The study is based on a structured documentary analysis of the DRC national presentation delivered during the ACAO/ICAO Radio Navigation Workshop in Rabat in February 2025, complemented by current ICAO, ITU, EASA, and IATA guidance and policy documents. The findings show that the affected areas - notably Goma, Butembo, Beni, and Lubero - experienced recurrent signal loss from the surface up to at least FL210, affecting multiple aircraft categories, including transport aircraft, regional aircraft, unmanned aircraft, United Nations flights, and military flights. Operational effects included re-routing, visual continuations, temporary suspension of GNSS-based instrument flight procedures and drone operations, elevated operator risk assessments under safety management systems, and rising economic and passenger-service burdens. The article argues that the DRC case is significant because it illustrates the asymmetry between rapidly increasing dependence on satellite-based CNS and the limited enforceability of civil aviation rules when military or extraterritorial interference is involved. It proposes a resilience framework built on five pillars: threat monitoring, risk assessment, contingency navigation, civil-military coordination, and harmonized reporting. The article concludes that States exposed to conflict-proximate interference should preserve a minimum operational network of conventional navigation aids, standardize GNSS RFI NOTAM practices, integrate spectrum regulators into aviation safety governance, and strengthen regional escalation mechanisms through ICAO and ITU.

This study presents a comprehensive, explanatory, and methodologically grounded scientific analysis of the microclimatic dynamics at Lubumbashi International Airport (Luano). It demonstrates that the airport platform should be interpreted as a coupled thermo-operational system, in which mineral surfaces, residual vegetation, seasonality, wind, precipitation, and aeronautical operations interact to generate a structured thermal signal. The analysis integrates hourly meteorological observations, Landsat and MODIS satellite products, ERA5 reanalysis variables, CHIRPS precipitation data, biophysical indicators such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and air traffic data. It further develops an airport–reference thermal contrast, a spatial LTO exposure index, and a framework based on spatial and temporal differencing. The results converge toward four main conclusions: (1) the Luano airport area exhibits a well-defined airport-related thermal signature; (2) the relative decline in vegetation cover and increasing surface artificialization account for a major share of background warming; (3) LTO cycles act as localized and transient thermal amplifiers; and (4) these dynamics have direct implications for air density, take-off performance, low-level turbulence, and overall aviation safety.