From NextGov:
The same day the that the Obama administration confirmed it planned to cancel a GPS backup system, the Government Accountability Office issued a report warning that delays in launching new satellites could imperil the performance of the navigational system.
In his budget issued on May 7, President Obama recommended killing the Long-Range Navigation System, or Loran-C, which the Coast Guard operates. The administration argued the government should not fund the system because it is obsolete technology, and the United States no longer needs it because GPS has “superior capabilities.”
But at a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s National Security Subcommittee, GAO warned that GPS performance could start to degrade next year. Delays in the development and launch of two GPS satellites could reduce the number of satellites in orbit to below the minimum 24 that are needed to provide precise location information, Cristina Chaplain, director of acquisition and sourcing management at GAO, told the panel.
“The estimated long-term probability of maintaining a constellation of at least 24 operational satellites falls below 95 percent during fiscal year 2010 and remains below 95 percent until the end of fiscal year 2014, at times falling below 80 percent,” she said.
If the number of GPS satellites drops below 24, Chaplain said, it “could have wide-ranging impacts on GPS users,” including intercontinental commercial aviation, which “may have to cancel, delay or reroute flights.”
The GAO’s testimony can be found here, and the full report here.
