I’d like to steer this back to the OP:
The Wiki article that was cited, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System, provides a lot of information, a lot more than I can digest. What I get from it (on a pedestrian level) is that:
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The military is increasingly dependent on GPS for precise deployment of troops and precision missile strikes.
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The US has the most sophisticated system of GPS satellites. Initially, it sent signals on two levels, one which was proprietary to the military.
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The cost of maintaining the two signal system was costing millions of dollars/year. The military recognized or developed a system whereby they could turn off the signal on a regional basis for national security purposes and it only made sense to do away with the two signal system. President Clinton signed the order with the blessing of the military.
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The Soviet/Russian system has been off and on. Today it probably operates and is sold to their allies but may be less accurate than the US system. It is probably used by countries such as Iran.
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The Chinese system is half-baked. It is probably used by the North Koreans.
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Very few countries or alliances have the resources and capabilities to develop such a system.
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GPS is essential to modern warfare. The Wiki article states that in the first Gulf War soldiers were using civilian GPS systems because the military couldn’t supply enough military capable units.
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In hindsight, it seems that better use of GPS could have mitigated embarrassments such as the “Black Hawk Down” incident in Somalia, the Jessica Lynch fiasco and the Pat Tillman [need for a] cover-up.
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As for this:
I’m willing to let that go as a bar-drunk guffaw. However, if any modern day general actually believes that, he should be busted down to buck private and retired without a pension. Anybody that thinks that it is better to send 10,000 troops with maps on an invasion into the Pakistani mountains to kill an Al Queda operative instead of sending in a computer guided drone missile is totally incompetent.
- Anecdotally, I’ve heard (but can’t verify) that the US system is already regulated over certain sensitive sites. I was told (and cannot verify) that during the Bush presidency that GPS did not work around Crawford, TX and other sensitive sites such as nuclear power plants.
Back to the OP. What are the options of a hostile country such as Iran or North Korea? They can rent the Russian or Chinese system. The US military can regulate the US system. What are the options for a hostile military that wants to make precision hits on sites of their choosing? What if Iran was to target Israel? What guidance systems would they use? I hope to think that if North Korea wanted to act out that the Chinese would reign them in by restricting their access to GPS. What would a rouge leader like Chavez in Argentina do?
I’m just trying to think this thing through and wonder what the checks and balances are. GPS is obviously a huge military tool or the Defense Dept. wouldn’t have started development 40 years ago.