Hot GPS Meeting This Week

Former Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger will chair a meeting of the National Space Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Advisory Committee Advisory Board at the Chevy Chase Pavilion Hotel in Washington on May 14 and 15. I have a feeling it will be a hot one.

Last week, the Government Accountability Office released a report that raised the possibility the GPS constellation could drop below the 24 satellites needed for precise navigation and location next year.

On the same day, the Obama administration zeroed out funding for what I'm told is the only logical, national and potential backup to GPS, the enhanced Long-Range Navigation System so that it could save $36 million out of a $3.4 trillion fiscal 2010 budget.

Although not on the agenda, I hear the GAO report and the eLoran cancellation will figure prominently in discussions at the meeting.

The United Kingdom has backed eLoran as a GPS backup, and I'm told Jeremy de Halpert, executive chairman of Trinity House,which operates navigational aids such as lighthouses and eLoran stations, plans to make a strong pitch for retention of eLoran as a GPS backup in the United States.

Either that, or we all once again re-learn how to use a compass.