ORIGINS, EVOLUTION, AND FUTURE OF SATELLITE NAVIGATION

The Global Positioning System (or NAVSTAR) has been called the most si gnificant civil spinoff of the cold war, It evolved from technology ef forts in the Navy and in the Air Force but was almost canceled before gaining approval by the Department of Defense, Although it offers phen omenal accuracy (centimeters for landing aircraft), it still requires some expansions to satisfy integrity, continuity, and availability req uirements, Most of all, to be formally accepted (and certified) intern ationally, the world will need greater confidence in commitments by th e U.S. and greater participation by the world community.