With GPS tracking constantly providing us with solutions to our day-to-day necessities – travel directions, personal tracking, recovery of lost goods, etc. – we sometimes forget what the technology was originally developed for, the United States Armed Forces. As early as 1960, the United States Navy was successfully testing a forerunner of GPS technology. The system, Transit, used five satellites to give the Navy location updates once an hour.
Improvements were made on this satellite system throughout the years; however, nothing notable changed until the Cold War. Nuclear threats swung the nation’s leaders into action and headway was made toward our modern GPS system. But this technology still wasn’t in the hands of the public. It wasn’t until the 1980’s the Reagan made it available to the world at large, and it over a decade, in 2000, when Clinton ordered military grade frequencies be made public.
If GPS trackers were originally an Armed Forces development, one can only wonder, how is the government using the technology now? We know about criminal surveillance and anti-theft technology, but what else are they doing?
One of the government’s most notable uses of GPS tracking systems is in the world of target tracking. For example, a weapons system will use GPS technology to get a bearing on a possible target. This target can be located on either the ground or in the air. If this target is labeled hostile, precision-guided munition then receive the location information from the weapons system. The munitions can then use this information to more accurately locate and engage the hostile target. This system is especially useful to US military aircraft engaging ground targets.
Of course, few of us, veterans and active servicemen excluded, have made or will make similar use of GPS technology. So what can we civilians take from the government’s use? Well, for those of us still in doubt about GPS’s efficacy, realizing that our own government uses the same technology can helps us realize just how powerful it truly is. And for those of us already investing in GPS products, this information can perform a similar task. It can help reassure us that our investments truly are valid and will live up to our expectations.
If our own government uses GPS products, why shouldn’t we?
Article Written By Katharin Stephens
