Report recommends the US government commits to eLORAN

Date: 30/6/2009

Source: GPS World

The U.S. Independent Assessment Team’s (IAT) report on eLORAN has been made available to the public over two years after it was published. The report, published in March 2007, “unanimously recommends that the US government complete the eLORAN upgrade and commit to eLORAN as the national backup to GPS for 20 years."

eLORAN is a terrestrial radio navigation system that is fully independent of GPS and delivers complementary levels of performance; in the UK it is operated around the coast to enhance safety, security and protection of the marine environment.

The report was made publically available following “an extensive Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) battle” fought by industry representatives against the federal government. The report is available to view in full on the GPS World web site.

The Obama administration and the Department of Homeland Security have recently proposed to shut down the programme, stating that doing so will save $190 million (£118 million) over five years. However, the IAT report contradicts this. Not only does the report highlight the eLORAN upgrade and its maintenance as the most cost effective GPS back up available at the moment, but it also states that completing the upgrade of Loran-C to eLORAN will be less expensive than decommissioning LORAN.

Furthermore, the report also indicates that the eLORAN system is perfectly suited, from a national defence point of view, to be a GPS back up as it is completely independent of GPS.

ITS Radar International will monitor developments in eLORAN

Keywords: Communications, Geographic information, Galileo