GPS World published a news report about an industry letter in support of the recent DHS report on PNT. Dr. Michael O’Connor, CEO of Satelles, and the CEOs of six other alternative PNT companies sent the letter to Chad Wolf, the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security.
This industry letter — which represents the consolidated views of Satelles, Orolia, Iridium, NAVSYS, Jackson Labs, Seven Solutions, and Qulsar — was sent in response to a previous letter from Representatives Garamendi, DeFazio, and Mooney that disparaged the DHS report on PNT.
Satelles issued a supportive position statement in May 2020 about the Report on Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Backup and Complementary Capabilities to the Global Positioning System (GPS). The companies represented in the new letter further articulate why the DHS report met its objective from Section 1618 of NDAA 2017, which was to “conduct a study to assess and identify the technology-neutral requirements to backup and complement the positioning, navigation, and timing capabilities of the Global Positioning System for national security and critical infrastructure.”
Signatories to the letter believe that multiple forms of commercially available PNT are needed for national resilience, and they echo this statement from the DHS report: “With respect to PNT needs for backing up GPS, DHS acknowledges the differences between and commonalities among the sectors and offers exceptional guidance for leveraging the capabilities of diverse forms of commercially available alternative PNT rather than endorsing a single, anti-competitive, government-imposed solution.”
