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.
At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Pentagon leaders argued the decision may result in businesses turning to Russian- or Chinese-based space navigation systems to replace GPS.
“There are too many unknowns and the risks are too great to allow the proposed Ligado system to proceed in light of the operational impact to GPS,” said Dana Deasy, the Defense Department’s chief information officer.