Or, Maybe the Military’s GPS System Has Been Hacked

It would be a prime target and the DoD is under constant attack by others through the internet. other government agencies also are.

North Korea and China have been attacking government systems for years.

ANY system they can access, they are trying to break into - private or public. The internet is flooded with hack attempts, of which a huge proportion is coming from China.

This isn't a China-only problem though; South Korea is notorious for it, as are Russia and Ukraine; nowadays even Germany, Taiwan, Brazil and India are getting into the act.

My mom has one. Named Sally. Mom never never never agrees with Sally. A ride with my mom is now one long endless argument with Sally. Every time Sally says "recalculating," my mom feels she's scored a victory.

That GPS would have been a wonderful tool for me as map orientation in strange country was never my forte so I practiced it a lot. We need to be prepared to operate without it and all the other tasks made easier in the cyber world.

35 years ago I was an avionics tech in the Air Force. Most of our systems relied upon ground units that gave the airborne systems their bearings. Later I cross trained for 2 new systems- Doppler radar and Inertial Navigation. Doppler works by tracking frequency shifts of radar beams sent fore, aft and side to side this gives a true bearing of where the aircraft is headed. The down side is that the plane is broadcasting a signal that can be intercepted by the other side.

Inertial Nav is a totally closed system. It consists of a stable platform with 3 accelerometers and 2 gyroscopes. It is very accurate and cannot be jammed short of shooting the aircraft down. GPS on the other hand is vulnerable to hacking or the use of anti-satellite missiles.

I spoke with a C5A navigator last year and was pleased to learn that Inertial Nav is still the gold standard.

BTW to all who are in love with GPS- If we ever get into a hot war the civilian side will be shut down. Just give up this crutch - know where you are and stop being lead around by a soulless machine.