WAAS is going away? Not likely, may be locally one airport?
Well what are we talking about. From Wiki
"Wide Area Augmentation System" (WAAS) is currently being deployed in the U.S., the error is reduced to a cube about 10 feet on a side. This allows precision instrument approaches (with lateral and vertical guidance) with landing weather minima nearly as low as the Category I Instrument Landing System -- but no ground-based equipment except for a relatively few units that determine the WAAS correction signals relayed through satellites to user aircraft. Further refinements include "Local Area Augmentation System" (LAAS) which will probably allow Category III approaches (practically speaking, landings in "zero-zero" weather) -- again, with minimal requirement for ground stations. LAAS is planned to use the same VHF band for its correction message. This might require some existing VOR facilities to be shut down or shifted to different frequencies to avoid interference issues.
I have not heard about WAAS program shutting down overall. May be he meant WAAS at your local airport? Sometimes original contractors with the FAA, who produce equipment and installations fall short and they need to change over to a new vendor or spec at that one location?
WAAS will evolve to LAAS. Why would they replace it and what would replace it, keep VOR's and ILS? The concept of WAAS is solid, built on the back of GPS, which will be around way after we are kicking. I don't see a replacement for GPS in the next 50-100 years. It makes sense they will try to use it for approaches. WAAS is the obvious solution. The ILS will be around for at least 50 years. I see inertial & GPS only NAV airways, much like the Oceanic routes are today, just over the USA. The need to save fuel, fly direct and avoid WX delays is there as well.
ADF? yes beacons (NDB's) are going away all the time. Can you imagine the cost of maintaining all those antennas, radio shacks with APU's and leasing the land. Than the FAA has to go around and fly all those Navaids to test them. GPS will solve that. My guess is most will go like the Lighthouse. The VOR and ILS will be around longer, may be 50 years but a few will stay around until something better comes along. Right now I can't see a GPS replacement.
On a related note:
I remember when MLS (Microwave Landing System) was going to be all the rage in the early 90's. It's like a ILS on steroids and can do curved final approach paths, saving planes from long straight ins and allowing simultaneous approaches to different runway's at the same airport. Never really took off. There are a few in the USA mountainous airports for ski destinations. It's more than a DME arc its precision curved approaches. MLS is being replaced. By what? Guess.
Again from Wiki:
The FAA suspended the MLS program in 1994 in favor of the GPS (Wide Area Augmentation System WAAS) that may supplement or replace existing MLS systems. Many countries in Europe (particularly those known for low visibility conditions) have embraced the MLS system as a replacement to ILS. Phasing down of MLS systems in the U.S. is planned to begin in 2010. However, it is unclear whether all the systems will be replaced or taken out of service, but (like LORAN-C) it is reasonable to speculate that if funding becomes unfeasible, they will be.
