Can the Universal Force be salvaged?  Are there additional concepts that lead to the targeted result?

POSSIBLY!!  Check the following multiple conflicting hypothesis :
1. use Barnes' feedback (poorly explained by Lucas)
2. Jeffimenko's causality (time) basis
3. Ed Dowdye's Extiction Light principle
4. experimental-only - but just for particle colliders, NOT [GPS, interferometer]

At present, I have not completed step-by-step derivations for these additional hypothesis.