The US Invented GPS. It Risks Losing Its Way.
Without stronger satellite signals and more resilient backups, the nation’s military and economy could be crippled in a conflict.
Deft jams.
Photographer: Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP/Getty Images
The satellite-based Global Positioning System has long been one of America’s proudest technological achievements, transforming the way the military fights, companies do business and citizens live their lives. It is now also a critical vulnerability.
Opened to full civilian use only in 2000, GPS has since become integral to modern life. More than 4 billion users worldwide depend on signals from its satellites to determine position, navigation and timing. The system guides missiles to their targets and airliners to their destinations. Banks depend on its precise time stamps to process transactions. It is vital to power grids, cellular networks, emergency services and countless other applications; a prolonged outage could cost more than $1 billion a day. And, with the advent of drone warfare and new technologies such as self-driving cars, GPS is only going to become more essential.