Loran C Signals to Go Silent Next Month
In a move that will save each American taxpayer $1.38 over the next five years, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has directed the Coast Guard to discontinue support for Loran C, starting Feb. 8. The USCG notice said, “At that time, the U.S. Loran-C signal will be unusable and permanently discontinued.” Though overwhelmingly superseded by GPS, ground-based Loran-C technology has elements that make it attractive as a backup. For example, its signal is much higher-powered and less vulnerable to jamming; and it operates at low frequencies, allowing it to diffract around obstacles. Development of an enhanced Loran version, so called eLoran, was envisioned as one possible backup for GPS. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has protested previous proposals to remove funding for Loran C until another viable backup to GPS is identified. As part of its international agreements, the United States will temporarily continue to participate in Russian-American and Canadian Loran-C chains. But according to the Coast Guard statement, “Continued use of limited resources to operate Loran-C is no longer prudent use of taxpayer funds and is not allowed under the 2010 DHS Appropriations Act.” According to AOPA, the cost to retain Loran C over the next five years would have been $190 million, or about 28 cents per year, for each of 138 million American taxpayers.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure it was still even around today lol…
this is really stupid, as we do need a back up to the GPS system…the system works, the costs to keep it functioning is minimal…and it was decided quite a long time ago that the LORAN should be kept functioning just for the reason of GPS back-up.
as we get more technology dependant, we really need more of an ability to have a viable contingency plan at the ready.
To be honest…the fact that it will only save the American tax payer $1.38 per year is a bit misleading…
While LORAN-C might be a suitable back-up to GPS its persistance complicates the funding for GPS in the mind of the PSMs responsible for the program. Invariably, the question asked is, “if LORAN-C is so good, why do we need to continue funding GPS?” Not that anybody believes GPS is not as viable as LORAN-C but in Washington, if costs can be defered while a technology gap widens…well, let’s just say money tends to dry up.
If that happens you can bet the entire infrastructure supporting GPS would feel the effects and jobs and communities – from CA to FL – would certainly notice “a disturbance in the force” well in excess of a mere $1.38.
GPS was never sold to the suits on the basis of how useful it would be to civilians. It was sold on the basis of “which particular window in the target house do you want the bomb to enter Senator”.
GPS was never sold to the suits on the basis of how useful it would be to civilians. It was sold on the basis of “which particular window in the target house do you want the bomb to enter Senator”.
Actually JHEM you’re 1/2 right. GPS got its initial funding that way but got a big boost after its utility was made apparent following the shootdown of KAL 007
The shootdown only provided the impetus for Pres. Reagan to make GPS publicly available, although in a degraded (“Selective Availability”) form less accurate than that available to the military. The funding for the implementation of GPS grew out of Cold War requirements for the establishment of positional accuracy in order to ensure USAF and USN missile flight parameters.
Respectfully JHEM, your response provides substantiation for your original premise and my assertion that you were indeed 1/2 right.
Your original premise was that the “suits” only worried about which window through which to put a warhead. And as you correctly pointed out, “…funding for the implementation of GPS grew out of Cold War requirements …” However, as I offered, the big push in funding came after tech-savvy PSMs could prove the constellation’s incredible and wide ranging utility to lay-PSMs in conference and elsewhere in Longworth, Rayburn, et. al. Out of the ashes of the shootdown and following the CinCs Executive Order, rose the the light the mighty PSMs and capable AOs needed in order to draw the money they needed from the FAA and other non-military users.
With that said, I remain impressed by your knowledge of aviation/military history. Always good to see your comments on the board…
We taught NDB approaches at USAF Pilot training until a few years ago… so many DoD NDB approaches had been removed that the requirement was taken out of the syllabus.
