The Post GPS-Only Era: Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) in 21st Century Warfare

This research focuses on the need for the United States Government to expand the Positioning, Navigation, and Timing PNT portfolio beyond the use of the Global Positioning System GPS and Inertial Navigation Systems INS solutions. The central argument of this discussion is focused on the integration of a multiple Global Navigation Satellite System GNSS solution in all of our weapon systems to overcome the primary military challenge of the critical PNT challenges of critical timing, navigation, and positioning in a contested, degraded, and operational limited operating environment. The alternative navigation and timing portfolio expands beyond GNSS through adding robust timing architectures and operational depth through the incorporation of upgraded INS systems, critical network timing, and the use of both large and small atomic clock systems on the highest priority mission systems. This research also endeavors to make the connections between GPS and our 21st Century way of life and the other instruments of national power. GPS and the PNT mission set is the cornerstone of our information age technology. The diversification beyond GPS-only PNT solutions is necessary to ensure our national infrastructure, economy, and military dominance for the next century. It concludes with recommendations for how the Department of Defense and the entire United States Government USG should act now to implement changes for the United States PNT architecture to overcome the challenges of today and positioned to maintain PNT and NAVWAR dominance in the 21st Century.