The European eLoran Forum is an ad hoc group of European organisations that have an interest in eLoran because they currently operate, fund or host eLoran infrastructure. Its purpose is to support the successful introduction, operation and provision of eLoran services in Europe as part of a European Radio Navigation Plan. Current members include the Danish Maritime Safety Agency (which hosts the French funded Ejde station), France itself, and the General Lighthouse Authorities of the United Kingdom and Ireland. Norway is an observer.

The GLA view is that robust, reliable and high performance PNT is the lifeblood of a modern society’s critical infrastructure, underpinning telecommunications, financial markets, fleet logistics, power generation and distribution, and information and communication technology as well as transport. The future prosperity and welfare of Europe is based on this critical infrastructure.

GPS has revolutionised PNT and the combination of Galileo and GPS promises enhanced performance efficiencies. However, like all satellite navigation systems, GPS and Galileo share common vulnerabilities at signal and user levels. eLoran, a terrestrial radionavigation system, fully independent of GPS & Galileo and delivering comparable levels of performance, does not; thus making it a supporting service.

In February of this year the United States of America, the premier satellite navigation service provider, changed its national policy in favour of eLoran, emphasising the need for a independent, national PNT that complements GPS in the event of an outage or disruption of service.

Other satellite navigation service providers have a similar PNT mix. The Russian Federation operates its Glonass satellite navigation system and its version of eLoran, Chayka; and the People’s Republic of China is developing its Compass satellite navigation system and has deployed Loran in the Far East. Only Europe is intending to deploy its eagerly awaited Galileo system without this PNT mix.

Dr Sally Basker, the GLAs’ director of research and radionavigation said, 'GPS and Galileo will rightly form the cornerstone of our future European PNT environment. In our rapidly changing and connected World, we need a mature and rational debate about GNSS vulnerability that recognises the strategic benefits of having two satellite navigation systems, Galileo and GPS, as well as the importance of system diversity based on eLoran. Using GPS, Galileo and eLoran together will protect our critical infrastructure and allow our European service providers and users to retain the safety, security and economic benefits of GPS that they currently enjoy even when their satellite services are disrupted.