I visited the United State Coast Guard website, the ?LORAN Modernization? page in the Navigation Section of their website. This page is:

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/loran/modernization.htm

Look at all of the upgrades and investments. My guess is that it will be around for a while as one ingredient of the navigation mix. It should be remembered that there are many more watercraft users of LORAN than small aircraft. For this reason LORAN is under the auspices of the USCG and not the FAA.

Regarding LORAN coverage. The USCG site states: ?The LORAN-C system serves the 48 continental states, their coastal areas, and parts of Alaska.? At the following website, maps are available for purchase displaying the LORAN coverage in other parts of the world. A little surfing yeild maps that show coverage as far west as Japan, eastern China, far east Russia, the Russian NE coast, NW Europe, and the Middle East!

http://www.naco.faa.gov/ecomp/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=5133

Another website discussing the political aspects or LORAN maybe found at:

http://phk.freebsd.dk/loran-c/Politics/

Note the following comment taken from this article: ?LORAN-C signals on the other hand goes through everything and can only be plausibly denied if you use explosives on the remotely located transmitters.?

From my guess, it appears that LORAN will be around for at least 10 years. I like Carl?s observation, that ?LORAN is still attractive as the more reliable system, while GPS remains attractive as the (usually) more accurate system. Considering the price of a used LORAN, if you've got the panel space, go for it!?

John Mc
150F N8299S
SE Michigan 1D2