GAO on GPS
Jun. 1st, 2009 10:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
riontelInteresting report from US Government Accountability Office on the current state of the GPS.
Few quotes for those who don't want to read the full document (Testimony Before the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House of Representatives):
The Air Force is responsible for GPS acquisition and is in the process of modernizing GPS to enhance its performance, accuracy, and integrity. The modernization effort includes GPS IIF and IIIA, two satellite acquisition programs that are to provide new space-based capabilities and replenish the satellite constellation; the ground control segment hardware and software; and user equipment for processing modernized GPS capabilities.
It is uncertain whether the Air Force will be able to acquire new satellites in time to maintain current GPS service without interruption.
[list of problems] As a result of these problems, the cost to complete GPS IIF will be about $1.6 billion—about $870 million over the original cost estimate of $729 million. The launch of the first IIF satellite has been delayed until November 2009—almost 3 years late.
If the Air Force does not meet its schedule goals for development of GPS IIIA satellites, there will be an increased likelihood that in 2010, as old satellites begin to fail, the overall GPS constellation will fall below the number of satellites required to provide the level of GPS service that the U.S. government is committing to providing.
...because of funding shifts and diffuse leadership, the Air Force has not been successful in synchronizing satellite, ground control, and user equipment segments. As a result of the poor synchronization, new GPS capabilities may be delivered in space for years before military users can take advantage of them.
...while the United States is challenged to deliver GPS on a tight schedule, other countries are designing and developing systems that provide the same or enhanced capabilities.
According to the civil agencies that have proposed GPS requirements, the formal requirements approval process is confusing, time consuming, and difficult to manage.
We recommended that the Secretary of Defense appoint a single authority to oversee the development of the GPS system, including space, ground control, and user equipment assets, to ensure that the program is well executed and resourced and that potential disruptions are minimized.
Few quotes for those who don't want to read the full document (Testimony Before the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House of Representatives):
The Air Force is responsible for GPS acquisition and is in the process of modernizing GPS to enhance its performance, accuracy, and integrity. The modernization effort includes GPS IIF and IIIA, two satellite acquisition programs that are to provide new space-based capabilities and replenish the satellite constellation; the ground control segment hardware and software; and user equipment for processing modernized GPS capabilities.
It is uncertain whether the Air Force will be able to acquire new satellites in time to maintain current GPS service without interruption.
[list of problems] As a result of these problems, the cost to complete GPS IIF will be about $1.6 billion—about $870 million over the original cost estimate of $729 million. The launch of the first IIF satellite has been delayed until November 2009—almost 3 years late.
If the Air Force does not meet its schedule goals for development of GPS IIIA satellites, there will be an increased likelihood that in 2010, as old satellites begin to fail, the overall GPS constellation will fall below the number of satellites required to provide the level of GPS service that the U.S. government is committing to providing.
...because of funding shifts and diffuse leadership, the Air Force has not been successful in synchronizing satellite, ground control, and user equipment segments. As a result of the poor synchronization, new GPS capabilities may be delivered in space for years before military users can take advantage of them.
...while the United States is challenged to deliver GPS on a tight schedule, other countries are designing and developing systems that provide the same or enhanced capabilities.
According to the civil agencies that have proposed GPS requirements, the formal requirements approval process is confusing, time consuming, and difficult to manage.
We recommended that the Secretary of Defense appoint a single authority to oversee the development of the GPS system, including space, ground control, and user equipment assets, to ensure that the program is well executed and resourced and that potential disruptions are minimized.
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Date: 2009-06-01 05:08 pm (UTC)I wonder if we will have to as well :)
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Date: 2009-06-01 05:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-01 05:36 pm (UTC)