Global Positioning System Reference
In-Depth Information
A Tale of Two Systems
The modern version of this argument concerns the importance of Timation,
developed at the Naval Research Laboratory under the direction of Roger
Easton, to the emergence and success of gps. Some accounts of gps history
dismiss Timation entirely or sweep it aside as simply an effort to upgrade Tran-
lineage directly back to Project 621b, the navigation satellite program devel-
oped by the Aerospace Corporation, a federally funded research and develop-
ment center sponsored by the Air Force.
Because the Pentagon appointed the Air Force as the executive service for
gps in 1973, and it has performed that role for decades, it is understandable
that many assume gps has always been entirely an Air Force program. Few
people knew details about Timation during its development because it was a
classified program, and its role became obscured once the navstar gps pro-
gram subsumed it. However, a reasonable examination of the individual char-
acteristics of Timation and Project 621b, of the steps the government took to
merge the two approaches, and of the resulting system, leads to the conclusion
that gps resembles the Timation approach more closely than that of Project
621b. The evidence that follows is not an attempt to discredit the contributions
that Air Force managers, Aerospace Corporation scientists, or numerous pri-
vate contractors made to the development of gps. Rather, it attempts to pres-
ent a balanced story, to promote wider appreciation for the contributions
Timation made to gps, and to accurately portray how gps came to be the wildly
successful program it is today.
Joint programs among the military services have always proved challenging
and have sometimes failed. The f-111 ighter-bomber is an example of unsuc-
cessful joint development of technology. Secretary of Defense Robert McNa-
mara ordered the Navy and Air Force to develop the f-111 together. The Navy,
judging the plane unsuited to carrier operations, was dissatisfied with its ver-
sion, and the attempt to design an aircraft for both the Air Force and the Navy
failed.
3
As discussed in the previous chapter, various space-based navigation sys-
tems were proposed in the 1960s. The problems U.S. pilots had in the late 1960s
and early 1970s destroying North Vietnamese bridges highlighted the need for
precision munitions. But Vietnam War-era military budgets were stressed, so
coordination between the military branches was encouraged. While the Pen-
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