European GPS Galileo is not yet working or licensed for use
EGNOS is definitely fully authorised now, for LPV, otherwise the approaches would not exist publicly.
Surely nobody really believes the US would switch off GPS? I don’t.
I agree – massive economic damage / own goal, and the general approach is to have a localised jamming capability of the non-encrypted civilian bands
In those scenarios, Galileo would be shut down as well.
Exactly. GA would be banned on Day 1 of any significant hostilities – just as it was in WW2. And if Galileo wasn’t shut down (for which there must be a covert agreement with the USA) the US would destroy the satellites if they were themselves under attack and they would be fully entitled to do so.
My only (small) concern with GPS is how easily it can be jammed
That will always remain, but it is receeding, via increased satellite power outputs. Much of the original Galileo claims to superiority are now obsolete because the US didn’t stand still. Also, in GA, we can drastically reduce the chances of interference by having properly mounted antennae, on the roof and with a ground plane underneath it.
EGNOS is definitely fully authorised now, for LPV, otherwise the approaches would not exist publicly.
Yes indeed EGNOS is authorised but it is our version of WAAS – both for the time being enhance the GPS signals (run by the US Department of Defense) – so LPV became possible.
Galileo is still on the horizon …
Even with Galileo operational, radio navigation aids will remain in place as a backup. NDBs and VORs will be (or I have to say are being) removed and instead we will see more DME stations. Those are much cheaper to install and maintain. With two DME stations, an aircraft can already determine its position (or two possible positions). There once was a VOR/DME based RNAV product for GA cockpits, the King KNS80. We might see those come back as DME/DME but I surely hope that GA will not be required to carry any backup equipment in addition to GPS.
Once GPS receivers start using GPS, Galileo and Glonas at the same time, there will be another significant increase in precision. Not that there is any reason to ask for higher precision that what we get today with EGNOS.
The KNS80, however, did what used to be called “RNAV” which was working out a position using a VOR and its co-located DME.
There were several problems
I vaguely recall reading that somebody did make a box which gave you a moving map, using various VOR and DME data (I think the upmarket jet FMS systems do that) but they dropped it when GPS caused the bottom to fall out of the nav market.
Unfortunately Navstar, Galileo and Glonass are all mutually incompatible so a receiver needs to be specifically designed for each one. In some cases there can be a firmware upgrade but how many vendors are offering that? I bet that most aviation GPSs use a separate GPS module (King certainly always have gone) so a general firmware upgrade probably won’t do it.
Unfortunately Navstar, Galileo and Glonass are all mutually incompatible so a receiver needs to be specifically designed for each one.
All the popular GPS receiver chips on sale today support Glonass. Russia did something very clever: they passed legislation that every satellite receiver chip sold in Russia must support Glonass. This is how the iPhone etc. became capable of Glonass and also use it in the rest of the world as a way to improve accuracy. If there is any intelligent life in the EU Commission, they will do the very same with Galileo and specifically include aviation.
The KNS80 is only of historical interest of course. It’s a near useless device and where you find it today, it’s mostly illegal because of FM immunity (Annex X). I wonder if that device is actually digital or still analog. King have some fantastic analog computers, the finest of 1970s discrete electronics. I once tried to troubleshoot the “time to station” calculation circuit in my King DME but had to give up as this analog electronics stuff is clearly beyond me.
I know of one CPL/IR school that uses a KNS80 as a cheap method of gaining RNAV compliance. Its quite a powerful tool but bloody easy to kill yourself with or bust airspace. So never use it to move the LHR VOR.
The screens can be a bit dodgy but there seems to be a fair few 2nd hand ones on the market these days.
In reality the fact that it can’t pick up waypoints that are outside of DOC is a moot point because in reality anyone in the right mind would use some sort of portable GPS for that element.
If there is any intelligent life in the EU Commission
I think I may have spotted the flaw in this plan……… 
All the popular GPS receiver chips on sale today support Glonass.
Consumer ones, maybe. Not relevant to us though – unless you are driving a tablet from a bluetooth GPS. Maybe I should upgrade mine. Is there a BT GPS (NMEA, not the crippled-for-IOS-only stuff) which supports Glonass? Must have external power and external antenna (SMA etc).
I think I may have spotted the flaw in this plan
Easy to think that if you watch some of the committee videos…
Interference immunity. I feed it from a proper active rooftop antenna.
