Because of the ease with which GPS signals can be jammed or spoofed, it looks like an enhanced version of LORAN (eLORAN) may be making a comeback as a back up Navigation system. GPS signals are very weak and can be easily swamped. LORAN has an “average signal is an estimated 1.3 million times stronger than a GPS signal.” 

In July, the United States House of Representatives passed a bill which included provisions for the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to establish an eLoran system.

“This bill will now go over to the Senate and we hope it will be written into law,” said Dana Goward, president of the U.S. non-profit Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation, which supports the deployment of eLoran.

“We don’t see any problems with the President (Donald Trump) signing off on this provision.”

LORAN has not been an active Coast Guard program for some time. For those who don’t know the history and technology, you can find it here.

A lot of CG Junior Officers got their command ashore pins by spending a year in exotic places such as Iwo Jima, French Frigate Shoals, Gardner Island (Kiribati), or Attu.

Station Lampedusa was even targeted by Scud missiles fired from Libya. This from Jeff Patterson on the LORAN Veteran’s Facebook page, “I was in the LORAN shacks on watch when the Scuds hit. I though some idiot lost control of the truck and hit the side of one. Felt like an earthquake. Come to think of it they couldn’t have hit all of them at once! Ha! I was heading towards the door to check things out and another one rocked the place. I was flabbergasted. I thought, “OH MY GOSH!! The idiot backed up and hit me again!!” Best time ever!!”