This is a fairly detailed examination of how reliant the military is on Global Positioning System (GPS) technology:
A problem that rendered as many as 10,000 U.S. military GPS receivers useless for days is a warning to safeguard a system that enemies would love to disrupt, a defense expert says.
The Air Force has not said how many weapons, planes or other systems were affected or whether any were in use in Iraq or Afghanistan. But the problem, blamed on incompatible software, highlights the military's reliance on the Global Positioning System and the need to protect technology that has become essential for protecting troops, tracking vehicles and targeting weapons.
"Everything that moves uses it," said John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, which tracks military and homeland security news. "It is so central to the American style of war that you just couldn't leave home without it."
The problem occurred when new software was installed in ground control systems for GPS satellites on Jan. 11, the Air Force said.
Officials said between 8,000 at 10,000 receivers could have been affected, out of more than 800,000 in use across the military.
The contractor that took responsibility for the glitch was a company called Trimble, and they make some fairly interesting devices. I've been very critical of contractors and private companies that have screwed over the military in the past but, at least in my reading of the article, Trimble tested the devices and software involved and it did not affect anything critical for our national defense.
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