Why Did the Department
of Defense Develop GPS?In the latter days of the arms race the targeting
of ICBMs became such a fine art that they could be expected to land right on an enemy's
missile silos. Such a direct hit would destroy the silo and any missile in it. The ability
to take out your opponent's missiles had a profound effect on the balance of power.
But you could only expect to hit a silo if you knew exactly where you were launching
from. That's not hard if your missiles are on land, as most of them were in the Soviet
Union. But most of the U.S. nuclear arsenal was at sea on subs. To maintain the balance of
power the U.S. had to come up with a way to allow those subs to surface and fix their
exact position in a matter of minutes anywhere in the world.... Hello GPS!
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