[singlecomment17]

Even if it doesn't become popular for civilian use because of the overwhelming popularity of GPS software and hardware, precise location fixes for military purposes is a no-brainer in 2014.

E.g., Imagine every solider fitted with a receiver/transmitter so that their location is known with a resolution of a few feet. Think that'll make it easier to save the wounded during operations?

It's supposed to cost $250 million (approx $25 million per year since it lasts 10 years). Cost seems wildy reasonable considering just the military benefits.

[_djo_]

You don't have to imagine every soldier having that, there are already armed forces doing that now. The technologies have improved enough and the costs come down so low that it's affordable for even a mid-level country's armed forces to do it.

I've seen one of these systems demonstrated, which uses a cigarette-box sized unit with a GPS sensor, GSM modem, satellite transceiver, military radio connector and battery inside. Positions were encrypted and transmitted via least-cost routing to a centralised command and control system, showing the position of each soldier in real-time.

Of course, in real operations it becomes difficult to maintain line-of-sight radio communications over long distances, cellular service is spotty in combat zones and satellite communications are expensive even with small data packets. So the related infrastructure requires careful thinking too.

So I agree with you, this seems a worthwhile investment for the military benefits alone. It's one of the main reasons to have an indigenous space programme in the first place.