United States Department of Transportation
i
DoD Permanently Discontinues Procurement of Global Positioning System Selective Availability
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2007-09-18
[PDF-44.70 KB]
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Abstract:The Department of Defense announced today that it intends to stop procuring Global Positioning System
(GPS) satellites with the capability to intentionally degrade the accuracy of civil signals.
This capability, known as Selective Availability (SA), will no longer be present in the next generation of GPS
satellites.
Although the United States stopped the intentional degradation of GPS satellite signals by setting SA levels
to zero in May 2000, this action to permanently remove SA eliminates a source of uncertainty in GPS
performance that has been of concern to civil GPS users worldwide for some time. While this action will not
materially improve the performance of the system, it does reflect the United States’ strong commitment to users
by reinforcing that this global utility can be counted on to support peaceful civil applications around the globe.
The decision to remove the capability from the next generation GPS satellites was approved by the
President after a recommendation from DoD. The move coincides with the U.S. Air Force’s solicitation to
purchase the next generation of GPS satellites known as GPS III.
GPS is a dual-use, satellite-based system that provides accurate positioning, navigation and timing
information to users worldwide. Originally developed by the Department of Defense as a military system, GPS
has become a global utility. It benefits users around the world in many different applications, including aviation,
road, marine and rail navigation, telecommunications, emergency response, resource exploration, mining and
construction, financial transactions and many more.
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