Contents
- Introduction
- Situations In Which Misuse Could Occur
- Types of Misuse
- Rand Technical Studies
- See Also...
Introduction
Both the NAVSTAR and GLONASS systems were conceived as military systems, intended to augment military weaponry in times of war. However, GPS is a classic example of a dual use system. That is, one which has both military and civilian uses. In this case, GPS is an extremely expensive publiclly funded system which has potentially massive civilian benefits.Situations In Which Misuse Could Occur
- Attacker vs. Country of Origin
- In this case, the enemy would be directly attacking the GPS system's creator by using it's own system against it. Example: Iraq using NAVSTAR augmented weapons vs. the United States.
- Attacker vs. Ally
- In this case, the enemy would be attacking an ally of the GPS system's creator using the GPS system. Example: Iraq using NAVSTAR augmented weapons vs. Saudi Arabia.
- Attacker vs. other nation
- In this case, the attacker would be attacking a nation not allied with the GPS system's creator. Example: Libya using NAVSTAR augmented weapons vs. Chad.
Types of Misuse
- Intelligence collection
- GPS combined with laser rangefinding systems permits accurate positioning of potential targets from a distance. Information resulting from such data collection can be attacked at a later time using a variety of methods. These would include infantry assault, air attack, artilltery, etc.
- Augmentation of existing weapon systems
- Potential for terrorist use in short range mortar attacks. Postprocessed mapping grade differential GPS combined with commercial laser rangefinders could be used to surreptitiously map potential targets with respect to potential hiding spots for mortars. This would allow for better first shot accuracy with most any indirect fire weapon.
Similarly, military artillery batteries can shorten the time needed to survey in guns before they begin operation. This is relatively important in modern warfare because artillery batteries must move often to keep from being hit from counterfire. This principle is demonstrated in the U.S. Army's MLRS surface to surface missile system. The MLRS vehicle can carry up to eight unguided rockets in one tracked vehicle. An inertial guidance system in the vehicle is used to position the vehicle and aim the launch box at the target. A single MLRS vehicle, such as the one shown below, can stop, aim, shoot and leave within four minutes while providing the firepower of an entire battery.
- Integration into ballistic missile systems
- A RAND study has shown that the accuracy of short range ballistic missiles such as the Scud or the No Dong I can be improved by 20% to 25% by using the civilian SPS GPS signals. The GPS receiver is used to provide more accurate boost phase velocity measurements to the guidance system. Differential correction provides little added benefit because other systemic errors begin to dominate. Longer range ballistic missiles benefit more because they are more affected by boost velocity errors.
- Integration into cruise missile systems
- Biological weapons can be dispersed more easily and more effectively from a cruise missile than from a ballistic missile. Even civilian grade GPS provides sufficient accuracy for a low cost cruise missile to lay down a biological toxin such as anthrax in a desired pattern.