Going to War - GPS Declassified: From Smart Bombs to Smartphones - page 109

the Air Force calcms remained secret, the Navy used so few slams, receiv-
ers were in short supply, the ground war was brief, and the complex system
was not easily explained.
Call It What You Will
As the military pressed gps technology into service ahead of schedule for the
war, the news media faced the challenge of introducing unfamiliar terminol-
ogy to an audience of millions. The approaches varied and the results were
uneven. Prior to Desert Storm, detailed reporting about gps remained mostly
the province of professional journals like Aviation Week & Space Technology ,
the Journal of Surveying Engineering , Mining Magazine , or Offshore (aimed at the
oil and gas industry). gps Wo rld , a monthly publication devoted to the tech-
nology, started in January 1990. Business-oriented publications such as the
Wall Street Journal and Forbes magazine wrote about gps from its formative
years primarily because the defense contractors building the system were
important to investors. Stories for more general audiences were sporadic. An
early example appeared in the sports section of the Palm Beach Post on Novem-
ber 5, 1989, following the Palm Beach International Boat Show. “Global Posi-
tioning System Will Be Rave of the Future” read the headline. In the story
vendors and boating enthusiasts commented on the buzz created at the show
by gps receivers, including Magellan Corporation's new handheld model, which
cost $2,995, and Trimble Navigation's $9,000 marine unit. The article included
a good explanation of how gps works.
As the troop buildup in Saudi Arabia progressed during the fall of 1990, the
cbs Evening News aired a segment with Scott Pelley interviewing Marines. He
referenced a network of satellites beaming navigation instructions to troops
in the desert and identified it, saying, “The network is called the global posi-
tioning system.” 25 However, the focus was not on the system's capabilities but
rather on the shortage of receivers. Four days before the air campaign began
abc Weekend News Sunday concluded its broadcast with a report from the Win-
ter Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where Pioneer introduced its
Avic One satellite navigator for automobiles. 26 Reporter Tom Schell explained
that it used the “global positioning satellite network” to update the car's loca-
tion to within forty feet. The program did not mention the satellite system's
military significance or connection to the impending war.
After the shooting started most war coverage lacked the time and space to
provide many details about gps. In much the same way that reporters in the