US GPS positioning is gradually being replaced in the trend of countries becoming autonomous in technology.

In an effort to achieve “strategic autonomy”, India - an important strategic partner of the US in the Indo- Pacific region - announced plans to abandon the US-owned satellite navigation system and replace it with NavIC, a system developed by New Delhi itself.

Earlier, the country successfully launched the first of five second-generation satellites into orbit. India aims to launch a satellite every six months to complete coverage and bridge the gap in mobile technology and users in the country.

The US GPS positioning system is increasingly "out of favor"

According to the Indian Space Research Organization, the satellite coded NVS-01 with L1, L5 and S frequency bands is expected to be used for the NavIC satellite navigation system developed by the country, which is compatible with handheld devices and can be provided through mobile applications.

Previously, the L5 and S frequencies were not available for civilian use. As a result, smartphone manufacturers such as Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi had to add hardware to their chipsets to make their products compatible with NavIC, which increased the price of their products and hindered widespread adoption of the technology.

“To be strategically independent, for both civilian and military purposes, it is imperative to have an indigenous navigation system,” said an official involved in long-term strategic planning for the Indian government. “We want to be self-reliant in critical technologies.”

Notably, unlike GPS, which has an accuracy of 20-30 meters, India's system can locate within 5 meters. This is because NavIC consists of four geostationary satellites in a higher orbit, which makes the signal less susceptible to interference, and operates on the L and S bands, which have higher accuracy.

To date, several smartphone lines, including the iPhone, have supported Russia's GLONASS, Europe's Galileo, Japan's QZSS, and China's BeiDou navigation systems.

The foundation of the military system

GPS was originally developed by the United States as a military system. It reached full capacity in 1993 with 24 satellites providing global coverage. Today, GPS has 31 satellites orbiting the Earth every 12 hours in an 11,000-mile orbit.

Satellite positioning becomes a "must-have" element in modern warfare

These satellites are spaced so that every point on Earth is visible to at least four satellites. Each satellite is equipped with an atomic clock, accurate to a billionth of a second, that continuously transmits a digital signal of its position and time in orbit.

The US positioning system has significantly improved combat command capabilities at all levels of warfare, revolutionizing the tracking of moving vehicles.

Almost every US weapons platform that requires navigation, timing or location data depends on GPS. This includes Tomahawk cruise missiles, guided munitions, precision bombs and other unmanned aerial vehicles.

As a result, a GPS disconnection or jamming for even a few minutes can be catastrophic on the battlefield, as has been the case in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Adversaries can cripple defense systems and critical infrastructure by targeting satellites through electronic warfare.

A study by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) indicates that, “adversaries will seek to attack military capabilities through electronic warfare, psychological warfare, as well as the use of directed energy weapons or electromagnetic pulses. The main purpose is to block the flow of information, disable the operation of weapons systems”.

(According to EurAsian Times)

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