For Want of a Nail

<p>The Global Positioning System (GPS) has become a vital component to both the military and civilian infrastructures. U.S. military forces have evolved from using its signal for routine navigation to depending on it for nearly every facet of combat operations. GPS is also seamlessly integrated into every major civil infrastructure including transportation communications energy commerce banking and emergency response services. In addition the accuracy and worldwide availability of GPS has spawned a multi-billion dollar international market representing billions of dollars in annual tax revenue. Despite its vital importance the GPS constellation is populated with numerous satellites operating well beyond their design life. These aging satellites are more likely to malfunction which can reduce service coverage degrade accuracy and in some cases transmit dangerously inaccurate data. The constellation is in a frail state with multiple satellite failures predicted each year for the next several years. The Air Force currently subscribes to the launch to sustain (LTS) satellite replenishment strategy. Under this strategy new satellites are launched only after a satellite failure or just prior to a failure. The purpose of this monograph is to investigate whether the Air Force should forgo its current LTS replenishment strategy and adopt a more aggressive launch to augment (LTA) strategy in order to proactively eliminate high risk satellites and to accelerate modernization timelines. It will be shown that the explosive growth of GPS over the past fifteen years has outpaced the Air Force 's strategy on satellite replenishment. The growing importance of GPS must be matched with a progressive replenishment strategy that sustains the constellation 's reliability and improves its utility for military commercial and international users. Instead LTS has placed a premium on maximizing individual satellite life in order to reduce constellation life cycle costs. This has</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p>