The Global Positioning System was developed for the U.S. military by Brad Parkinson.
It was first employed by the U.S. military in 1978, when the first operational Global Positioning System satellite, Navstar 1, was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The 24-satellite system became fully operational in 1993. The Global Positioning System now depends upon 31 satellites.
According to Atlanta News First, with an article and video published on 16 December 2024, there is no backup for the U.S. Global Positioning System. The article is titled Experts warn of looming threat to nation’s GPS. It indicates that some U.S. agencies are exploring the use of Europe’s space-based system, Galileo. However, the remaining global systems are owned by U.S. adversaries, Russia and China.
According to the article at Atlanta News First, Russia and China have their own Global Positioning Systems. Both countries also have ground-based backup systems the U.S. lacks. The National Space Based Position Navigation and Timing Advisory Board, based in the U.S., has repeatedly recommended that the U.S. develop backup systems. In response, U.S. presidents have issued executive orders since 2004 directing agencies to develop a backup system. Those executive orders have been ignored for more than two decades.
The U.S. Global Positioning System depends on very weak signals. According to Brad Parkinson, “The [Global Positioning System] utility and usefulness has kind of crept into society and the average citizen doesn’t ever see it. They don’t realize the harm that would be done if it suddenly weren’t [available].” If the U.S. Global Positioning System were damaged accidentally or by a U.S. adversary, he said, “the impact would be enormous.”
The signals used by Global Positioning Systems are relatively weak. Brad Parkinson described them as “a tenth of a millionth of a billionth of a watt.” As a result, they are easily jammed or overpowered.
A member of the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation described a problem associated with weak signals: “Because the signals are so very, very faint, they can be easily interfered with. And because the nature of the signals are public knowledge, it’s very easy for even a sophisticated hobbyist to interfere.”
Evidence of this potential for interference is already obvious, according to the article at Atlanta New First. An official with the U.S. Department of Transportation told the board at its fall 2024 meeting that there are thousands of jamming incidents affecting airliners every day. “Over one month, there were 41,000 Boeing, Airbus and other aircraft that were affected by spoofing,” according to this official. Aircraft systems have security measures to detect, prevent, and log spoofing attempts, which is how the U.S. Department of Transportation obtained the data. To spoof is to imitate or exaggerate. I am frequently accused of exaggerating the threats resulting from abrupt, irreversible climate change.
An example provided in the article at Atlanta New First is spoofing. In this case, spoofing is used to send incorrect positioning information. In some cases, navigation systems on ships at seas were displayed as being inland. The current chair of the National Space Based Position Navigation and Timing Advisory Board said “The vulnerability of G[lobal] P[ositioning] S[ystems], both jamming and spoofing, is a real considerable threat to the country and needs to be taken seriously.”
What is the nature of the threat? Why have people, including those in the U.S. military, expressed concern about the U.S. Global Positioning System?
According to a General in the U.S. Space Force,envir The resulting loss of aerosol masking likely would suffice to cause the extinction of all life on Earth.
The National Association of Broadcasters is ready to embed Global Positioning Systems signals into its next-generation TV signals nationwide. According to the chief technology officer for the National Association of Broadcasters, “the solution is Broadcast Positioning System. In essence, we’re taking the exact same timing signal that is transmitted via a Global Positioning System satellite, except we’re doing it from a television tower.” This approach would not require new towers or separate transmitters, because the timing signal is embedded in the digital signal of the National Association of Broadcasters.
Brad Parkinson called it an appealing solution. The current chair of the National Space Based Position Navigation and Timing Advisory Board said the proposed solution “shows great promise. It has great accuracy. The infrastructure is already in place.”
Another member of the National Space Based Position Navigation and Timing Advisory Board said he believes Broadcast Positioning System is a matter of national security. He said “that system is capable of carrying time that’s as good as what you get from Global Positioning System.” He went on to explain that Broadcast Positioning System does not require any regulatory approval, but it will cost the broadcasters money to install specialized equipment at every TV station in America. “Sixteen hundred and nineteen [towers]. They’re all there. They’re operating today. They operate twenty four hours a day. They’re highly resilient because they carry the Emergency Broadcast System. They also are there for the public good.”
The public good has rarely been a high priority for the U.S. government. The bottom line in the article in the Atlanta News First article issues a plea for this to change. The line comes from the member of the National Space Based Position Navigation and Timing Advisory Board, who is also a timing expert. He said “Our adversaries know we are at risk. I would like to see the American public contact their elected officials and ask them the question, when are you going to fix this?”
In response to this question, I will not be holding my breath. Elected officials in the country of my birth are not known for responding to crises that affect the masses. On the other hand, positive action is nearly always immediate if a billionaire’s money is threatened.
