Thread: The U2's latest feat, passing data from F35's to Army Missiles

Interesting side-article about using earth's varying magnetic field for navigation - in place of GPS, which is described as "fragile".
- About time someone spoke the 'bleedin obvious.... GPS satellites are sitting ducks, IMHO. I wonder how many warships of the world's navies carry a ..."sextant" and somebody capable of using it.

Originally Posted by superquag

I wonder how many warships of the world's navies carry a ..."sextant" and somebody capable of using it.

100%. It is very simple as it is all automated. There are these things called computers. Your phone has enough sensors and calculation ability to do it instantly.

Originally Posted by superquag

Interesting side-article about using earth's varying magnetic field for navigation - in place of GPS, which is described as "fragile".
- About time someone spoke the 'bleedin obvious.... GPS satellites are sitting ducks, IMHO. I wonder how many warships of the world's navies carry a ..."sextant" and somebody capable of using it.

Every Commonwealth warship, to my knowledge. It is still part of Navigator training, last time I looked.

The last time celestial nav was an aviation topic was the ATPL Nav course in the mid 80’s. Fortunately it had been removed by the time I did the course in 1988. Emphasis was on NDBs and VORs. But Airservices has seen fit to progressively remove those aids from service 🤬
It wouldn’t be difficult to knock out the GNSS constellation and leave us with very limited navigation capabilities.

I’ve always liked that pre-GPS, the SR-71 Blackbird had a celestial navigation setup that was very accurate.

SR-71's "R2-D2" Could Be The Key To Winning Future Fights In GPS Denied Environments - The Drive