GPS at War: A Ten-Year Retrospective

James M. Hasik and Michael Russell Rip

Abstract:	Since its large-scale debut in the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War, GPS has grown over the past ten years to support nearly every aspect of US warfighting. No significant military operation is conducted without it, and no substantial system is built without it. This profound investment has occurred because GPS has enabled the lethal combination of precision strike with standoff range, adverse weather performance, and operational flexibility – all at a low marginal cost. In operations such as Desert Storm, Deliberate Force, and Allied Force, GPS and synergistic systems have enabled US and Allied forces to dominate their opponents in ways that were inconceivable in the 1980s. However, operations such as Desert Fox and Infinite Reach have shown that GPS is not a political silver bullet. Paradoxically, the tactical dominance afforded by GPS- equipped systems seduced American political leaders in the 1990s into a series of questionable, though seemingly riskless, standoff strikes. Despite the ubiquity of GPS, fratricide and collateral damage still plague military efforts (albeit at a reduced level). Thus, the allure of bloodless warfare and the reality of maddeningly persistent losses may have combined to condemn such campaigns to a cycle of undeliverable surgical promises. At the same time, potential enemies may not remain idle. The immense capability of GPS – shown on television fo the world to see – has induced military powers around the globe to adopt it for their new systems as well, and to find ways of combating it. The low marginal cost of this investment may affect a relative shift in the balance of power away from progenitors of GPS. Countries with hitherto little hope of challenging NATO may now find their asymmetric strategies bolstered by the unforeseen secondary effects of widespread GPS adoption.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 14th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 2001) September 11 - 14, 2001 Salt Palace Convention Center Salt Lake City, UT
Pages:	2406 - 2417
Cite this article:	Hasik, James M., Rip, Michael Russell, "GPS at War: A Ten-Year Retrospective," Proceedings of the 14th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 2001), Salt Lake City, UT, September 2001, pp. 2406-2417.
Full Paper:	ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit Sign In