Dear Friends and Colleagues,
It was a great honour to be elected
President of the International Loran Association last year. I am proud – each
of us should be proud – of being part of an incredibly co-operative, supportive,
innovative and resilient community. Our
last two conventions have demonstrated just what can be achieved when
like-minded people pull together for a common cause.
Let’s get
straight to the issue at hand. At the
time of writing, the US
has decided to turn off its Loran-C system.
Let me just quote Glen Gibbons, ‘We have to hope that it won’t take the
cinematic plagues — locusts, rivers of blood, deaths of first-born children —
to correct the gaping security hole in our critical national infrastructure for
positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT)’.
You know we are in good company when Dr Bradford Parkinson, the ‘Father
of GPS’, describes cancelling the US Loran-C program as a ‘very, very bad
decision’.
GNSS
vulnerability is real. In the past month
we have heard how a GPS software update is wreaking havoc with some military
and civil receivers. We have heard the US Air Force Chief of Staff say that the
US
must lessen its dependence on GPS and develop alternatives, and we have heard
officials confirm that GPS has been jammed or interfered with recently.
Uses need
resilient and cost-effective PNT and a systemic backup is the best solution. Only with a systemic PNT backup can users benefit
from short-term of economies of scale, existing networks – technological,
business and regulatory - and long-term lower average costs.
At this point, I want to remind you that
our Association is truly international and that there is growing support for
Loran. The Marine Director of the
International Chamber of Shipping has said that ‘a terrestrial alternative is
an important priority’. IALA has
encouraged its members with Loran/Chayka to retain it and make plans to upgrade
it to eLoran. There is growing interest
and support in Europe and some fascinating
developments in the Far East. Even in the US, I understand that those elements
of the current Loran-C infrastructure that could or would likely be used in an
eLoran scenario, will be maintained until the ongoing analysis been completed.
We now need to be clear about our
objectives and to pursue them vigorously.
Is it our objective to foster the international growth of eLoran? Yes.
Is it our objective to promote
co-ordination between nations and institutions to increase co-operative
activities, to establish uniform standards, and to optimise benefits to all
users? Most definitely.
Finally, is it our objective to retain
Loran or is it to retain an existing 100kHz system that provides a
cost-effective systemic backup to mitigate well-known GNSS vulnerabilities with
all the associated benefits? I would
argue for the latter. After all, what's
in a name?
We now need the ILA more than ever. It is the only international forum for the
exchange of ideas and information regarding eLoran and its integration with
GNSS. Europe
and the Far East need to learn from the work
that has been done in the US. In the future, I fully expect the US to return to
Loran and it will then need to take on board developments in Europe
and the Far East.
More importantly, the ILA needs you more
than ever. You are the World’s critical
mass of skill, knowledge and experience on Loran. We now need to pull together and to hold on
to our values: be co-operative and mutually supportive, seek opportunities for
innovation and, above all, be resilient.
Please contact the ILA Secretary and find ways of supporting your Board
of Directors.
Finally, I urge you to support the US Loran
Industry Working Group as it seeks ways of creating eLoran from the ashes of
Loran‑C in the US.
Best regards
Dr. Sally Basker
President, ILA
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