(image by 3D King)
… thanks to mismanagement by the USAF.
The satellites are overseen by the US Air Force, which has maintained the GPS network since the early 1990s. According to a study by the US government accountability office (GAO), mismanagement and a lack of investment means that some of the crucial GPS satellites could begin to fail as early as next year.
“It is uncertain whether the Air Force will be able to acquire new satellites in time to maintain current GPS service without interruption,” said the report, presented to Congress. “If not, some military operations and some civilian users could be adversely affected.”
The report says that Air Force officials have failed to execute the necessary steps to keep the system running smoothly.
At least we’ll have a fleet of nearly 200 USAF-procured F-22’s, capable of fighting a non-existent Soviet Union.
(The Governmental Accountability Office is on Twitter for those of you who wish a frequent dosing of exposed incompetence.)
There is another system, but you civilians aren’t supposed to know about it.
My GPS gives me shitty directions anyway.
My GPS saved my life two years ago, well the GPS on my cell phone. So this news does kinda suck.
Think of the iPhones!
Remember maps?
You might as well not bother with comments bashing ridiculous military spending, Jonathan. The people who could do anything about it have long since been trained not even to understand sentences that call for military reduction as being in a language they know.
I swear if I were to call up Patty Murray and say, “I, your constituent, and a large number of people I have asked to sign this petition which I am going to forward to your office, would like to see a 75% reduction in US military spending and a commensurate increase in spending on social services, education, infrastructure renewal, and environmental restoration,” she would probably hear “Gabba gabba wagga blabba gabba wabba blah hooey constituent wakka wakka gagga habba military yakka wakka social services blah spending” and send me a form letter that emphasized her support for the troops and her determination to help solve the current economic crisis by slashing wasteful spending in the federal domestic budget.
Mismanagement? By our beloved government? I find that hard to believe.
Did you know how many of our ICBMs still use vacuum tubes?
Yup. A lot.
Why are we still bothering to build manned fighter and bomber craft? The money spent on the F-22 would have been far better invested in unmanned vehicles or better missiles.
Right after i moved to seattle I used my GPS to return my rental truck to somewhere in the ballard area. On the way home i took a wrong turn and somehow found myself on 99 South heading straight downtown towards a very new, intimidating city. The GPS recalculates the route, phew, modern electronics have saved me!
…..no wait…..the GPS recites “Please make a U-turn”
on 99??
oh shit….
In the Year 2000 . . . In the Year 2 ThousAND!!!!
This is almost as bad as flying live nukes across the country and not knowing about it. That time, top dogs got the axe. Which is rare–the top brass are rarely held accountable. Let’s see what happens this time.
And how long has Obama been President?
(ps you girls show your ignorance when you discount the value of air superiority.)
Air superiority over who?
Iran?
Seriously, they can’t even hit Germany …
Tax the GPS receivers.
@14
Canada
Those socialists have been trying to bomb us with socialist medicine propaganda for years, only our billion dollar fighters have kept us safe from their reason and sanity.