The US Federal Aviation Administration and Coast Guard have agreed to keep the Loran-C navigation system in service beyond its planned termination date of 31 December, 2000 in a move which will be welcomed by the general aviation sector.
The decision, which must be approved by transportation secretary Rodney Slater, follows political pressure to keep Loran in service until satellite-based navigation is fully accepted. Keeping the ground-based network operational also increases Loran's chances of being selected as a back-up to the global positioning system (GPS) if studies now under way determine that a back-up is required.
The Coast Guard has studied keeping Loran in service to 2008 and to 2015. Both scenarios involve upgrading the 24 US ground sites with solid-state transmitters.
Costs to keep Loran in service are expected to be shared between the FAA and the Coast Guard, which carries the $27 million-a-year burden of operating the system. The FAA is hoping to limit its share to 15%, based on the estimated ratio of aviation to maritime users of Loran, but it expects to be pushed to divide costs equally with the Coast Guard.
Sources say the FAA wants to avoid being locked into funding Loran indefinitely unless there is an aviation requirement for the system (as a back-up to GPS, for example).
Source: Flight International
