Interesting “the future of military GPS” article here:
GPS is going away for precision location and timing. Although currently classified, the ability to do what GPS does with natural resources has come of age. The USAF no longer wants to maintain Navstar/GPS. The Dept of Commerce might take it but the military no longer wants it in their inventory. The MIC wants it, but not the warfighters.
This is something I can proudly say today I was directly involved with 30+ years ago. The result of that work not only earned a half dozen of us our PhDs in physics but also made GPS extremely accurate. It also discovered some natural things that can be used for navigation that makes GPS superfluous.
Am I teasing this out, yes, because I suspect this issue will become public very soon and be declassified. It has to, some new aircraft coming online use it. GPS is a great system that was needed for more than people know. It did more to advance navigation and safety than anything else I can think of. It was the dream of scientists and engineers dating before the last century. It was born of necessity, but it will end from obsolescence due to man’s discovery of the world around him.
The Monk episode I’m watching right now is about GPS
It’s on right now.....🤣
(However, their signals are susceptible to various forms of interference, such as jamming and spoofing)
Tomorrow Never Dies
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Speaking of the military......
"US Exports Rise to 5-Month High
Exports from the United States increased by $4.1 billion over a month to $256 billion in August 2023, the highest level in five months, boosted by a $3.1 rise in goods sales. Shipments of industrial supplies and materials increased $2.7 billion, mostly crude oil and fuel oil. At the same time, those of capital goods went up $1.1 billion and consumer goods increased $1.0 billion. On the other hand, sales of automotive vehicles, parts, and engines decreased $1.4 billion."
While Russia has stopped exports of oil from its country, the U.S. is exporting more. At the same time the U.S. is also reducing the amount of oil drilling on public lands.
Our military is a shell of its former self and our Strategic Oil Reserve has been almost depleted. Biden, in just shy of three years, has probably reduced our military defense capabilities to the point that our nation could probably not repel a foreign attack. Especially if you add in the unvetted, military-aged foreigners with no loyalty to our nation that have recently crossed over our borders. How many of them could be part of sleeper cells? We have no way of knowing.
I’ve been mocking this country for its reliance on GPS for warfare, saying things like “Well, if GPS gets me home from work, why shouldn’t it be effective against Russia and China?”
I did that because that was our mindset - GPS worked great in Afghanistan, so why bother with anything else? After all, we keep hearing here that Russia is a “Gas Station with nuclear weapons”. So, if GPS worked in Afghanistan, it would certainly work against Russia.
So, I welcome this change of mindset, but I still wonder why it took Russia neutralizing our best weapons in Ukraine, rather than reading an article like this 20 years ago, when it was OBVIOUS that blocking/spoofing GPS was easily doable.