Larry Wrote:- Seven years ago, I read of tests being conducted in Europe to replace air traffic control radars, especially in mountainous terrain with limited coverage. Instead of radars to track planes, aircraft would transmit their locations via data bursts to inexpensive ground receivers. This can provide better coverage and accuracy for less cost than a network of radars.

This is why Europe is developiong the Gallileo GPS system, in parallel to the US one. The Europeans cannot allow such a fundamentally important navigational system to be subject to someone else's hand on the "off" switch.