Farnborough Air Show  Nations ready to deny U.S. of navsat
dominance   - November 15, 2006, 11:05 AM  While it may be hard
to believe that the global positioning system (GPS) is already
more than a quarter century old, it may be equally difficult to
imagine that by 2020 there will be more than 100 navigation
satellites crisscrossing in outer space, high above us. Yet the
first is true and, barring unforeseen eventualities, the second
will also be true.  For most of today’s GPS users, now estimated
to be in the tens of millions, the 27 or so GPS satellites would
seem to be more than adequate. Why then does the world need more
than 100? Basically, it’s because GPS is solely owned and
controlled by the U.S. military and, while the U.S. has offered
its service free of charge and has pledged never to degrade or
remove its satellites’ signals except in times of national
emergency, other nations would prefer to control their own
satellite destinies.  This is not simply xenophobia, but it is
because GPS is more than