US Navy Training for celestial navigation

 

  Pentagon turns to the stars to survive China's electronic warfare

 

The Compass -- Celestial Navigation

 
Every newly commissioned ship in the U.S. Navy's surface fleet has a copy of Nathaniel Bowditch's "The American Practical Navigator" (originally published in 1802) stored on its bridge. This thick encyclopedia on maritime navigation is filled with data on the latitudes and longitudes of various landmarks -- from the Bugio Lighthouse in Lisbon, Portugal, to the Kannonzaki Lighthouse in Yokosuka, Japan.
 
It also has detailed instructions on how to use a sextant to measure one's current location by observing the sun, moon, stars and horizon. While the act of carrying the book on every ship is largely ceremonial, the threat of China's electronic warfare has increased the likelihood that the quartermaster will reach for Bowditch. Cyberattacks against U.S. installations and institutions between 2010 and 2020 have tripled compared with the previous decade. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, many stem from China.
 
How is the U.S. military adjusting to this new threat? U.S. editor Ken Moriyasu reports about how the U.S. armed forces are turning to historical analog methods, such as celestial navigation, as well as researching cutting-edge ways to emulate how birds use the Earth's magnetic fields to navigate, to find a way to survive without the Global Positioning System, which it depends heavily upon.