Impact of 1-meter GPS navigation on warfighting

Advanced satellite-based geocoordinate positioning systems capable of navigation accuracies of 1 meter or better, such as wide-area differential GPS (WADGPS), will cause fundamental changes in military tactics and strategies. Weapons employing this capability are about to emerge, as demonstrated by a recent set of trials supported by SRI under the Air Force's EDGE High Gear program. The determining factor for weapon miss then becomes the accuracy with which the desired aimpoint can be specified in geocoordinates. Improved techniques under development will use the same differential GPS technology to register their image data into absolute geocoordinates to accurately determine the locations of target aimpoints for use by the new classes of weapons. This paper examines the end-to-end sequence of operations for attack using air-launched precision-guided weapons employing WADGPS to determine each of the elements that will be affected by the new capabilities. Other war fighting applications of improved GPS precise positioning service accuracy are also described.