The plan would allow the U.S. military to jam an adversary's over-the-counter
GPS equipment on a battlefield, but still use its own.
Jamming GPS signals is relatively easy, according to a Transportation Department
report last year on threats to the system. But it is unclear if anyone, except
perhaps the United States, has used this technology on the battlefield.
"Short, lightweight, short-lived jammers with power from one to 100 watts could
cost less than $1,000," the report says. "These jammers can be built by people
with basic technical competence from readily available commercial components and
publicly available information."
Some experts, who note the U.S. commerical sector has become reliant on GPS for
everything from navigation to setting clocks used to time financial
transactions, suggest the boosted signals also be made available to civilians.
"I won't be critical of them taking steps to protect (Defense Department)
infrastructure first," said L. Paul Bremer III, a former U.S.
ambassador-at-large for counterterrorism who has studied the issue. "But
protecting GPS needs to be looked at much more broadly."
Boosting the military GPS signal is part of Rumsfeld's push to protect the U.S.
advantages that arise from its supremacy in space, said Air Force Col. Roger
Robb, a GPS program official, in a written response to questions.
Until shortly after he was nominated by President Bush in January 2001, Rumsfeld
was chairman of the Commission to Assess United States National Security Space
Management and Organization.
The commission created by Congress concluded that the government was becoming
more reliant on space for its military and intelligence programs, but was doing
little to protect these advantages against attack.
The commission said a lack of attention by the government to its satellites and
space policy makes the United States "an attractive candidate for a space Pearl
Harbor."
Since becoming defense secretary, Rumsfeld has also reorganized some of the
senior command structure for military space programs.
For example, a new generation of communications satellites would be able to
transmit through the electromagnetic pulse created by a nuclear detonation,
according to officials at the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles
Air Force Base, Calif.
The administration is seeking $825.8 million for the program in 2003. The launch
of the first of five of these satellites is expected in 2005.
* __
On the Net:
Background on Global Positioning System:
http://www.af.mil/news/factsheets/NAVSTAR_Global_Positioning_Sy.html
Advanced Extremely High Frequencey program:
http://www.losangeles.af.mil/smc/mc/mcx.html
Copyright 2002 Associated Press