Graphic: GPS World
An expert has warned the government of the United Kingdom that the lack of an alternative to Galileo threatens to put critical infrastructure at risk, according to a report in Daily Express.
Andy Proctor, formerly with the satellite and positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) cabinet office, submitted evidence of his concerns to the UK’s ministers.
“Our critical infrastructure is at risk from the loss of PNT, space-based or otherwise,” he wrote. “We are currently critically dependent upon GPS; the loss of which will have a major impact in capability and economically.”
Proctor is director of Rethink PNT, a consultancy firm.
He pointed out that the government disinvested in the eLoran terrestrial system that could have provided a backup, although this is slowly reversing.
“For 20 or so years there have been calls for action, yet the current status of inaction regarding the PNT strategy puts our systems at increasing risk, especially given the clear and present electronic-warfare systems being used in Europe today,” Proctor wrote.
Britain was removed from the Galileo project following Brexit, and has since been looking for an alternative PNT system.
