block30

I'm also curious what the implications are for aviation... I can't remember the last article I read, but I believe the VOR network may have life left as basically a back up to a catastrophic GPS outage. I've always thought this was a cool skill anyways.

To foil hackers, Navy turns to celestial navigation | Fox News

Forget those fancy GPS units: The US Naval Academy is again steering by the stars—sort of. Though celestial navigation was famously cut from the curriculum in the late 1990s and all fleet training wrapped up in 2006, short lessons on the subject are back on the syllabus this fall, marking the first time in almost two decades that a program exists for enlisted ranks.

Why the return to the days of yore? "We went away from celestial navigation because computers are great," Lt. Cmdr. Ryan Rogers of the academy's Department of Seamanship and Navigation tells Maryland's Capital Gazette.

"The problem is, there's no backup." Though GPS can now find your location easily to "within feet" with help from 31 satellites, "we know there are cyber vulnerabilities," he says.

"In the event (of) a national emergency, we would probably have to shut the GPS down because it can be used by potential enemies," says a retired captain who started a foundation to keep in contact with experts.

Then "the old celestial navigators all passed away," he says. New graduates won't exactly be experts: They'll receive three hours of training on celestial navigation theory during an advanced navigation course.

"We're just baby-stepping it," says an instructor, "but we really do have the capabilities to expand." Some ROTC detachments will soon begin pilot programs, the Gazette adds.

Though even a skilled celestial navigator can only calculate a location to within 1.5 miles, "if you're out at sea, you should be able to navigate without GPS," Rogers says.

"Things happen."

This article originally appeared on Newser: To Foil Hackers, Naval Academy Looks to the Stars

GunnerV

I wonder if they need instructors...

tomgoodman

Our AF navigators used to teach us a few basics on those long overwater flights. About all I remember now is: "Follow the arc to Arcturus, and speed on to Spica."

FlyJSH

Kinda tough to take star sights without an astrodome.

John Carr

"there's an app for that......."

bedrock

Is INS totally useless in war? I thought as long as you update it on a fix every so often, it is accurate. Or are they thinking of EMP frying everything? But in that case, you'd have to fly a balloon anyway.

awacs

The E-3 has a port for a bubble sextant, so easy fix

AWACS

RhinoPherret

True it does. So does the RC-135 V/W

Example: Rivet Joint uses the LN-120G that uses a system like the LN-100G (both use a qualified navigator) and it also incorporates a stellar tracker. It uses an INU that is augmented and updated by a stellar telescope that tracks stars day or night. Meant to allow Rivet Joint to remain on station when GPS capability is denied.

GunnerV

We used a periscopic sextant in the Herk. Said sextant port may or may not have launched hard boiled eggs on occasion .

block30

Well I thought glass cockpits were all the rage now! Buh dum tsssshh