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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