New Bill Would Make Coast Guard Responsible for eLoran GPS Backup

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June 22, 2016

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Blog

Written by Editor

The “Miscellaneous Maritime Transportation Amendments Act of 2016” introduced today by Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) provides for:

“Subject to the availability of appropriations, the Commandant of the Coast Guard, in consultation with the Secretary of Transportation, shall provide for the establishment, sustainment, and operation of a reliable land-based positioning, navigation, and timing system to provide a complement to and backup for the Global Positioning System … to ensure the availability of uncorrupted and nondegraded positioning, navigation, and timing signals for military and civilian users in the event that GPS signals are corrupted, degraded, unreliable, or otherwise unavailable.”

While no funds are provided by the bill, it does appoint a leader for the effort. Heretofore, no department or agency has been in charge. This is seen by many as the primary obstacle to the United States having a complementary and backup system for GPS. It was a subject of discussion at a congressional hearing last year. See video here starting at minute 25:45.

What Can YOU Do? How Can YOU Help?

PNT is the quiet backbone of everything but too many leaders still don't see the risk.

But you do. You understand the systems, the dependencies, the failure chains. That insight is rare — and it's exactly what your country needs right now. Contact your government leaders and industry decision-makers and tell them resilient PNT isn't a feature — it's the foundation everything else depends on.

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