Posted on 05/03/2010 6:19:01 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The most recent upgrade to the GPS ground control segment created an incompatibility issue with a specific type of military GPS receiver used on at least 86 different U.S. weapon systems, some of which cannot be used until the problem is fixed, according to the U.S. Air Force.
The Air Force said in an April 30 posting on the Federal Business Opportunities website that it gave a $900,000 sole source contract in February to the receivers’ maker — Trimble Advanced & Military Systems of Sunnyvale, Calif., — to help the Air Force Space Command’s GPS Wing track downand modify the affected hardware.
Some 8,000 to 10,000 Selective Availability Anti-SpoofingModule (SAASM) GPS receivers deployed in a variety of weapon systems are having trouble authenticating a new messaging format implemented as part of an upgrade to the GPS Operational Control Segment, the Air Force said. The prime contractor for the GPS ground system is Boeing Defense, Space & Security of St. Louis. Boeing spokeswoman Diana Ball said May 3 she was not aware of any problem withthe GPS ground system. A phone call to Trimble’s press hotline May 3 was not immediately returned.
The problem has prompted the U.S. Army to suspend the use of Excalibur 155-milimeter guided artillery shells that rely on GPS to enhance their accuracy. “If the SAASM receiver within the unit doesn’t pass the correct information to the precision guided munitions, the round could fall on friendly troops or civilians,” the Air Force said in the April 30 posting justifying the sole source award to Trimble.
The only other affected weapon system the Air Force identified by name is the U.S. Navy’s X-47B, an unmanned combat aerial vehicle demonstrator built by Northrop Grumman. According to the Air Force, the Navy’s X-47B program office is .
(Excerpt) Read more at spacenews.com ...
Gee, and on the day The Kenyan announces to the world that we have 5113 nuclear weapons....
I was not suprised. Old news
he did?
and here i thought any exact information would be considered classified
So foolish IMHO. The GPS will be the first technology knocked out in a conflict. It’ll be crippled with the first EMP or nuke set off.
Keep our guidance systems in the military separate, please.
The military GPS satellites are at high altitude thus not as vulnerable to EMP
It was...from 1945 until yesterday, that was one of our biggest National Security secrets. Then the Kenyan opens his yap. Big surprise, huh?
Odds are not less than a dozen managers were told of this issue by not less than several dozen engineers. The managers, not knowing anything about engineering, ignored the warnings. Happens all the time.
” It’ll be crippled with the first EMP or nuke set off.”
Those birds are completely protected. This notion that EMP kills anything and everything is for the feeble minded.
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