Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) of India has just ordered from Sagem Défense Sécurité (SAFRAN Group) more than 100 SIGMA 95N navigation systems. These systems will be used on the Indian Air Force Sukhoi fighters and the Tejas fighters from the Indian LCA (Light Combat Aircraft) program. SIGMA 95N is a standalone inertial laser gyro navigation system with integrated GPS/Glonass. It brings highprecision navigation and a high degree of operating flexibility to combat aircraft.

Dr. Chris Hegarty has been elected as President of ION. He has served as a member of the ION Council for numerous years, was the technical program chair of ION GNSS 2004, general chair of ION GNSS 2005, has presented many papers during ION and other technical events. Dr. Mikel Miller has been elected Vice President.

Scientists have found a recession in the rate of retreat of Himalayan Gangotri glacier in last three decades. A GPS survey was carried out by G B Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, which found that the glacier has retreated at a lower rate between 2004 and 2005. The report is claimed to be the first accurate one on glacier retreat measurement. “Between 1935-71, the total recession
of Gangotri glacier was 954.14 metres while between 1971-2004, the recession has declined to 564.99 metres,” scientist Kireet Kumar, who led the survey. It has been observed that maximum recession took place along the centreline, followed by the northern portion of the snout.

According to ABI Research, wholesale Average Selling Price of GPS-enabled handsets will fall to a price range of $250 from $500 presently by 2010. Chipset manufacturers have solutions to lower integration costs, and provide significant improvements in accuracy, time-to-first- fix, and reception in indoor environments.

Taiwan police are using the GPS to catch bike and motorbike thieves. Police in Taichung, installed the GPS under the saddles of several bikes and motorbikes and parked them near the railway station to trap potential thieves. http://news.monstersandcritics.com/asiapacific/news/

A visit to website http://flood.firetree.net shows the impact of sea level rises from one to 14 metres in one metre intervals. The site uses Google's mapping API and 50 Gbyte of raw data from NASA. One can view the extent of potential flooding for almost anywhere, in some cases to high resolution and detail. The inundation estimates are optimistic in most cases–correcting the inaccuracy would make the consequences of any rise look worse.