A method for use in a mobile communication system for estimating the location of a target mobile station (MS) which includes receiving signals from the trarget MS at a plurality of receivers in differencet locations and calculating the location of the target MS from information obtained from the received signals, wherein the calculation of location is carried out by the searching MS. The method may involve the target MS and the searching MS or MSs communicating by a direct mode of operation (DMO) link. The searching MSs may conveniently have GPS attachments. A mobile station which may be used as the target MS or as a searching MS and a system incorporating the same is also disclosed.