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The U.S. military must invest in new technologies to ensure effective operations in the fog of a GPS-degraded environment.
U.S. Coast Guard

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Regaining the GPS Strategic Advantage

The U.S. military must invest in new technologies to ensure effective operations in the fog of a GPS-degraded environment.
By Lieutenant Commander Nicholas Monacelli, U.S. Coast Guard
April 2021
Proceedings
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When the NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS) was introduced in 1972, it gave the United States a strategic advantage by dramatically improving navigation, command and control, and munitions guidance. The precision timing of GPS enabled more sophisticated communications. Today, however, it is not the advantage it once was. Competitors are building their own systems, and GPS is susceptible to jamming and spoofing. Where the United States once operated the only electronic precision navigation and timing (PNT) system, allies and adversaries alike are developing their own PNT systems, including GLONASS (Russia), BeiDou (China), Galileo (European Union), NAVIC (India), and QZSS (Japan).

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1. Ishan Srivastava, “How Kargil Spurred India to Design Own GPS,” Times of India, 5 April 2014.

2. Office of the Press Secretary, “Statement by the President Regarding the United States’ Decision to Stop Degrading Global Positioning System Accuracy,” The White House, 1 May 2000.

3. David Hambling, “GPS Chaos: How a $30 Box Can Jam Your Life,” NewScientist, 4 March 2011.

4. Sarah Scoles, “Spoof, Jam, Destroy: Why We Need a Backup for GPS,” Wired, 2 March 2018.

5. GPS World staff, “PNT Roundup: Iridium Constellation Provides Low-Earth Orbit Satnav Service,” GPS World, 12 January 2017.

6. Christopher Black, “Finding Time: Accuracy Test of Locata Network Takes Place at White Sands,” GPS World, 14 January 2020.

7. “Adaptable Navigation Systems (ANS),” Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Lieutenant Commander Nicholas Monacelli, U.S. Coast Guard

Lieutenant Commander Monacelli is the commanding officer of the ice-breaking buoy tender Hollyhock (WLB-214) in Port Huron, Michigan. With operational experience in aids to navigation, international law enforcement, and fisheries protection, he also is a Coast Guard judge advocate. He received his commission in 2008 from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and holds a master’s in electrical engineering from Old Dominion University, a JD from the University of California–Berkeley School of Law, and a master’s from the U.S. Naval War College.

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