LoBiondo to DHS: ‘Where’s the GPS backup plan?’
From NextGov: The possibility that a national broadband wireless network from LightSquared could knock out GPS signals raises serious questions about the need for a backup plan, but Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.) said this week that the Homeland Security Department is more than two months late in delivering a report on that topic.
The 2010 Coast Guard Authorization Act gave Homeland Security until April 10 to determine whether a GPS backup satellite system is needed.
LoBiondo, chairman of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, and Rep. Thomas Petri, R-Wis., chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee, detailed their concerns about the lack of a backup system in a briefing memo distributed to members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee prior to a hearing.
Concerns about a backup plan are especially pressing because in February the Coast Guard shut down a land-based navigation system — Long-Range Aids to Navigation (Loran) — in operation since World War II, after certifying that it did not need the 24-station Loran to host an advanced system known as eLoran, which provides GPS-like accuracy. Read the entire article here.