GPS constellation tweaks 4-6 September 2007?

I've been maintaining a collection of factoids about the 6 September
2007 Israeli strike against the nascent nuclear reactor in a Syrian
wadi (http://www.fas.org/man/eprint/syria.pdf ). It's seemed likely
that the Israelis used JDAMs for the bombing, and it occurred to me
today that in the past the US has tweaked the GPS constellation to
give optimum coverage over regions where we were conducting military
operations.

Maybe Syria is close enough to Iraq that, even if the US was willing
to lend a helping hand, no tweaks would have been necessary. But
could anybody here check the GPS orbital data for that period to see
if anything unusual happened?

TIA

thomsona@flash.net wrote:


What kind of tweaks are you looking for... scheduled maintenance if
a specific satellite postponed?

I'm not familiar enough with the details of GPS operations to be
specific about it -- I was kind of hoping someone here could provide
the expertise. :-)

However, here are examples of the kind of reporting that inspired the
question:

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

http://www.aero.org/publications/crosslink/summer2003/headlines.html

Improving GPS Theater Support

In preparation for Operation Iraqi Freedom, the 14th Air Force tasked
the 50th Space Wing to develop and deploy an extended type of GPS
support to sustain an intensive precision munitions push. Aerospace
supported the 2nd Space Operations Squadron (2SOPS) by developing an
innovative tactic to enhance theater accuracy and integrity.

As explained by P. J. Mendicki of the Navigation Division, the new
technique is a variation of the GPS enhanced theater support (GETS),
which was implemented just a few years ago. Using traditional GETS,
field personnel would contact 2SOPS with a generalized target location
and a strike time window. The 2SOPS office would predict which
satellites would be overhead, monitor their performance, and update
their broadcast navigation message. The system worked well, but the
improvements were short-lived, lasting only about an hour, and
planning required adequate advanced notice. "Traditional GETS," said
Mendicki, "is very limiting=97we can't do it 24/7. Just a few years ago,
round-the-clock enhancement wasn't a major concern, because GPS-guided
weapons weren't as prolific as they are today."
GPS over Iraq

Aerospace proposed a new approach. "We know when satellites will be
visible to the theater, and we control our contact schedule, so why
not proactively schedule uploads to maximize theater performance?"
Mendicki asked. Thus, those satellites approaching the area would be
uploaded with a new navigation message shortly before entering the
theater of operations. "Rather than do it ad hoc, or on the fly, we
made it a routine scheduled activity, which helped smooth out
operations." As an added bonus, he said, "the new approach allows war
planners to attack targets of opportunity," such as those that began
the air campaign; the old GETS approach could not.



=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn6208/is_20060308/ai_n24396281

GPS Troubleshooting
Farm Journal, Mar 8, 2006 by Wayne Wenzel

As the U.S. prepared for war with Iraq, electrical engineers who
monitor GPS satellites knew something was going on. Dilution of
Precision (DOP) numbers, which are a calculation of GPS constellation
accuracy, were going haywire in North America. DOP would deteriorate
to the point of making GPS guidance unusable, only to get better then
worse again. Farmers might have noticed the inconsistencies, as well.

The U.S. military built the satellite system over the course of
decades at a cost of more than $10 billion, so there was no reason not
to use it for the war effort. Before the invasion of Iraq, low DOP
ratings indicated that GPS satellites were being repositioned to make
them more effective as navigation tools for the impending war.

thomsona@flash.net wrote:

,

To the best of my knowledge, with the capabilities in space at the
time, analysis was done to determine windows of optimum conditions
that come and go over various parts of the earth.

There would be nothing to detect for users like you and me, as nothing=

would be different for nominal operations.. A scheduled maintenance o=
f
a particular satellite might get changed, but that would essentially b=
e
transparent to us.

OK, thanks. It seemed worth checking.