Image: Shutterstock
What’s New: Commentary by our friend and colleague Doug Taggart discussing the difficulties training w/o GPS.
Why It’s Important:
- So many civilian applications, including aviation, rely on GPS, it is difficult for the military to disrupt and deny it for training purposes.
- This also raises the question of if it is important for civil first responders, pilots… everyone almost, to train and know what to do if GPS is not available.
What Else to Know:
- President Trump’s Executive Order 13905 “Strengthening National Resilience through Responsible Use of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Services” basically said ‘GPS is vulnerable, don’t rely on it, if GPS is important to you get yourself an alternative for when it isn’t available.’
- Of course there are few alternatives available. They are expensive and beyond the reach of most Americans. And development of less expensive systems by businesses is stifled by GPS being free.
Defense Matters
Train as You Fight A Challenging Requirement for GPS
Doug Taggart, President Overlook Systems Technologies, Inc.
The DoD considers GPS interference testing on its U.S. test ranges to be important for warfighters to understand: how systems will function when confronted with interference; how to recognize interference when it is occurring; how to locate the source of interference; and how to develop tactics, techniques, and procedures to successfully complete a mission when GPS is no longer available.
Dealing with the challenges of locating the source of GPS interference, whether intentional or unintentional, is “in the news” as incidents of reported jamming have escalated over the last 15+ months.
Reports of interference in Europe were observed in March 2022 along the Finnish/Russian border. More recently there are a growing number of reports linked to the on-going Russian conflict in Ukraine.
Here in the U.S., noteworthy interference occurrences include those reported around the Denver Airport in January 2022, as well as the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport experience of having a runway closed and having to reroute air traffic for nearly two days in October 2022.
Eurocontrol Activity On Testing
What is not so commonly available is information on how authorized agencies and organizations go about the process of gaining approval to intentionally radiate interference in the GPS (GNSS) bands within the Continental U.S. (CONUS) so that testing, training, and exercises in the presence of interference can be conducted.
