US Air Force reponds on GPS failure concerns

"The issue is under control" claims Colonel

21 May 2009 17:16 GMT / By Duncan Geere

Pocket-lint brought you the news late last week that the US Air Force was having difficulty maintaining the GPS system that powers a million satnavs and smartphones worldwide.

Turns out that everything's actually okay, if you believe the Air Force anyway. In a news conference, Col. Dave Buckman responded to the accusations, saying: "No, the GPS will not go down".

"The issue is under control. We are working hard to get out the word. The issue is not whether GPS will stop working. There's only a small risk we will not continue to exceed our performance standard".

The Air Force is planning to improve its ability to get satellites into space in order to meet targets. The Colonel confirmed that the Air Force will be launching another satellite in August '09, and then another early the following year.

GPS vendors agree that reports of the system's death have been greatly exaggerated. We've yet to hear from an independent organisation that doesn't have a vested interest in the continued functioning of the satellites.