Talk about being lost after eight years of failure on so many different levels!

It is uncertain whether the Air Force will be able to acquire new satellites in time to maintain current GPS service without interruption.
If not, some military operations and some civilian users could be adversely affected.
– GAO Report on GPS status

(Illustration found here).

One of the most-used modern marvels is the GPS navigational system.
The operation touches so many areas in so many different way, its break-down could cause more than just pain-in-the-ass problems, but could be dangerous.
And it could start to crash in a few months — in 2010, which to my reckoning is next year.
From PC World this morning:

Considered by the GAO to be “essential to national security” the GPS is also widely used by business and consumers and is a driver for next-generation location-based mobile applications used with smartphones and other devices.

And, too, this flip:

It is hard to imagine the U.S. government could allow this to happen.
Actually, that’s a lie, it’s easy to imagine, but there is also time for corrective action to be taken.
The first replacement satellite is expected to be launched this November, some three years after the original launch date.
Speeding up future launches can solve the problem, but is likely to come at a high price.

Just  another problem linked to the asshole, incompentence of George Jr.’s eight year as head honcho.

The first replacement GPS satellite was due to launch at the beginning of 2007, but has been delayed several times and is now scheduled to go into orbit in November this year — almost three years late.
The impact on ordinary users could be significant, with millions of satnav users potential victims of bad directions or failed services.
There would also be similar side effects on the military, which uses GPS for mapping, reconnaissance and for tracking hostile targets.
Some suggest that it could also have an impact on the proliferation of so-called location applications on mobile handsets — just as applications on the iPhone and other GPS-enabled smartphones are starting to get more popular.

When one is throwing huge chunks of cash at waging never-ending war, torturing people and invading countries some project might slide through the old cracks in the foundation, and, not being too smart, also allow valuable operations to fade, fade away.