ATC
Civil air navigation plans progress on several fronts
Much positive news about the future of civil air navigation broke late last year.

Much positive news about the future of civil air navigation broke late last year. Russia and Europe signed agreements to secure the future of their respective satnav systems, Russia’s GPS-like global navigation satellite system (Glonass) and Europe’s Galileo; the White House Office of Science and Technology published a U.S. national GPS policy document; and the FAA released a promising report about the potential of the new enhanced loran, called E-loran.

The one unsettling detail was the faint shadow on the far horizon caused by the release a few months earlier of the Air Force’s “Counterspace Operations Doctrine,” which examines the steps necessary for the U.S. to nullify an adversary’s use of both U.S. and foreign space systems during a conflict.