Navigating Canada to the End of the Twentieth Century

Abstract

Being master in one‘s own house is an ideal that can barely stand up to the alluring advantages of international cooperation in technology. How does a nation respond to prospects of a superb navigation grid, “as free as the air”, capable of supplanting almost all it has built up in navigation systems over the decades? The hand on the switch is another man's hand, and no matter how friendly the hand, therein lies the rub. Canada's ground–based air navigation systems have closely parallelled developments in the United States, a very natural and satisfactory situation. On the seas, the situation has been similar with the notable exception of the East Coast. Now we are jointly expanding Loran-C in the west, and are considering doing so in the east. But vast areas of Canada's skies and waters remain unserved by any Canadian-based long range aids; and U.S. VLF aids are not fully proven in much of our environment. The paper explores some implications of adoption of global aids, and, having regard to the systems in place, explores options for the future. While hard decisions are still in the making, some personal appraisals of the shape of navigation in Canada for the rest of the century are put forth. This paper represents views and opinions of the author and does not necessarily reflect departmental or governmental policy or plans.