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What’s new: Europe is working to establish a Europe-wide Minimum Operational Network (MON) of VORs and DMEs by 2030 for aviation in response to regular disruption of GPS and Galileo signals.
Why it’s important: Disruptions to GNSS have caused the loss and near loss of life in aviation several times and continues to make aviation less safe, less efficient, and more expensive.
What else to know:
- Eurocontrol is the program manager for this effort
- Previously the size of “minimum” was much smaller with many nations moving to disestablish expensive terrestrial VORs and DMEs in favor of GPS and Galileo.
- If you are not familiar with aviation terms:
- VORs are VHF Omnidirectional Radio Range. These provide aircraft direction to/from the transmitter, “Range” in VOR is a holdover from the early days of aviation and meant to mean ‘extent,’ not ‘distance.’
- DMEs are Distance Measuring Equipment. They provide range/distance to/from a transmitter.
- These are both aviation-specific, short range systems.
- We are disappointed there was no mention of developing eDME further as part of this project.
- Looking to the future, the Zurich University of Applied Sciences wrote a paper about nav services that could support next generation aviation’s Performance-Based Navigation (PBN).
Europe Devises Continent-Wide Backup Plan for Satellite Signal Loss
Thierry Dubois October 08, 2025
With the increasingly widespread use of satellite-based navigation in recent decades, air traffic control organizations have counted on space infrastructure to improve the accuracy of flight trajectories.
Surveillance, such as transmitting an aircraft’s identification and position, relies on that infrastructure. Organizations have also been betting on constellations such as the U.S. GPS and Europe’s Galileo to cut costs, as ground-based navigation aids are expensive to install and maintain.
Recent wars and strained international relations have made backup plans increasingly important.
The EU has designated Eurocontrol as program manager for communications, navigation and surveillance (CNS). The 42-member-state air traffic management body is thus overseeing implementation of a minimum operating network (MON).
