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May 6, 2020
Senate Armed Services Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) said today that President Donald Trump was left out of the loop on the controversial FCC approval of satellite company Ligado Networks’ 5G plans.
Continue reading “POLITICO: Inhofe: FCC approved Ligado plans without ‘cluing the president in’”
May 6, 2020
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon says it will formally appeal the Federal Communications Commission’s unanimous approval of the Ligado proposal to create a cellular network by repurposing a portion of radio spectrum adjacent to that used by GPS.
May 6, 2020
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Defense Department on Wednesday blasted a decision by the Federal Communications Commission last month to allow Ligado Networks to deploy a low-power nationwide mobile broadband network, saying it could pose severe risks to global positioning systems crucial to military operations.
Continue reading “Reuters: Pentagon blasts FCC decision to approve Ligado spectrum plan”
May 5, 2020
The Senate Armed Services Committee is convening a panel of current and former military officials May 6 in a last-ditch attempt to get the Federal Communications Commission to change its mind about approving a Ligado Networks plan opposed by the Pentagon.
Continue reading “Air Force Magazine: Can DOD Testimony Change FCC’s Mind on Ligado?”
May 5, 2020
Every day, tens of millions of Americans rely on the Global Positioning System. We use it for location features in cellphones, navigation for vehicles and aircraft, and financial and commercial transactions, including ATM withdrawals. And every day, the Defense Department and our colleagues across government use GPS to protect and serve the public by coordinating global trade, banking and transportation, as well as tracking terrorists and other threats to U.S. national security.
Continue reading “WSJ OPINION: DoD Head Mark Esper, “The FCC’s Decision Puts GPS at Risk””
May 4, 2020
WASHINGTON — U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said regulators had used incomplete data in approving Ligado Networks LLC for a mobile network that the military says threatens interference to GPS.
Continue reading “Bloomberg: Pentagon Chief Chides FCC on Ligado Approval as GPS Threat”
May 1, 2020
The U.S. military has long been preparing for enemies to jam signals from Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites, which provide geolocation and timing data to enable our forces to conduct complex battlefield operations and hit targets with precision, minimizing civilian casualties. But an ill-considered recent decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has the potential to do as much damage to our military capabilities as any adversary could do.
Apr. 30, 2020
WASHINGTON – The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) announced the committee has scheduled a May 6 hearing on the impact on national security of the Federal Communications Commission’s approval of Ligado’s spectrum proposal.
Read the full text at SpaceNews here.
Apr 29, 2020
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers is threatening to block the Federal Communications Commission’s recent decision regarding the deployment of a 5G network that may interfere with commercial and military GPS signals.Last week, the five-member FCC voted unanimously to allow Ligado Networks to deploy a low-power nationwide 5G network despite objections from federal agencies, including the Departments of Defense, Commerce and Justice, as well as major U.S. airlines.
The 5G network will use an L-band spectrum that has the potential to disrupt commercial and military GPS signals, therefore raising concerns that the technology will impact U.S. national security.
Read the full story at CNBC.
Apr 22, 2020
Right now, the coronavirus is rightly our country’s most immediate concern. But the Federal Communications Commission has used the crisis, under the cover of darkness, to approve a long-stalled application by Ligado Networks — a proposal that threatens to undermine our global positioning system (GPS) capabilities, and with it, our national security.
