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What’s New: A report “Preparing for the Loss of Positioning and Timing” from the United Kingdom’s National Preparedness Commission.

• “Government must lead.”  – Don’t you love it when a complex issue discussed in an 18 page report can be summarized in three words?

Why It’s Important: 

• PNT is critical to virtually every technology. Losing it would be catastrophic.
• Governments in the west have not been leading.
  • The UK government has had a draft PNT strategy ready for 2+ years but has not published.
  • In the U.S. the President’s PNT Advisory Board has recommended a government summit that would “Lead to improvements in the agility of PNT governance by assigning a senior responsible federal official”
    • Some of the discussion leading to this recommendation: “Nobody is in charge.“
• China, which is antithetical to the west, has been doing everything it can to ensure it never loses PNT.

What Else To Know:

• The report was prepared for the commission by the Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN). We are proud to be a RIN member and even prouder they are one of RNT Foundation’s corporate members.

Preparing for a Loss of Position and Timing

For the first time,  the UK’s 2023 National Risk Register (NRR) includes a section on the risks from a loss of positioning and timing services. The previous NRR only highlighted the risk to positioning and timing services from extreme space weather. This wider recognition is a welcome and important step in government leadership and national preparedness. A government announcement is anticipated with further details.

Acknowledging the multifaceted nature of national resilience and preparedness; NPC has a keen interest in this area owing to the widespread and indispensable use of positioning, navigation, and timing services across our society today. NPC commissioned this paper from the Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) to inform stakeholders on the issues relating to loss of positioning and timing services, to stimulate discussion, collaboration and action, towards improving our national preparedness.