Sunday, May 24, 2009

Will Obama Kill Navigation Backup System as GPS Threatens to Fail?

LORAN radio transmission tower. (Photograph by USCG/PA1 Chuck Kalnbach)

From Popular Mechanics:

Obama's budget attempts to ax LORAN-C, a navigation backup program, even as experts at the Government Accountability Office sound warnings about satellite reliability. What will happen if GPS fails?

Even as a government watchdog agency warns that GPS navigation satellites could fail, the Obama administration's proposed fiscal 2010 budget has quietly killed the nation's backup navigation system.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report last week warning, "It is uncertain whether the Air Force will be able to acquire new satellites in time to maintain current GPS service without interruption. If not, some military operations and some civilian users could be adversely affected." The report also notes that the current program is about $870 million over budget and the launch of its first satellite has been delayed to November 2009, almost three years late.

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