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GPS, Galileo and the China
factor
By John Berthelsen
Does Europe need to spend US$3 billion to
duplicate the United States' 28-satellite Global
Positioning System, the satellite system that is
designed to tell anyone with the right receiver exactly
where he is located on Earth?
Apparently so, to
the manifest irritation of the US government. That
irritation is starting to ratchet up with word that the
European Union is asking the Chinese government for help
in creating its system, called Galileo. The Chinese are
weighing various options, but it is widely believed that
they will join the Europeans in creating Galileo, which
would by 2008 loft a constellation of 30 satellites
23,000 kilometers into the sky to give Europe its own
satellite navigation network.
"It's national
pride, it is nothing but national pride," fumed an aide
to US Representative Dave Weldon, a Republican
congressman who oversees the funding of the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). "The
Europeans feel they are vassals of the United States in
respect to space power."
Both the Chinese and
the Europeans see Galileo as yet another counterweight,
no matter how small, to the overwhelming technological
superiority of the United States. Since the dissolution
of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, there has been
no remotely comparable force. US aerospace, sea and land
power seem unassailable, with the United States alone
now spending more money on defense than the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) nations plus Russia,
China, Japan, Iraq and North Korea combined.
An
EU spokesman also said Galileo has been designed and
developed as a non-military application, unlike the US
system. And, unlike GPS, which was in essence designed
for military use, he said, Galileo provides a "possibly
higher degree of precision" as required by modern
business, something that causes US officials to snort
with derision. They point out that GPS, used in the
recent Iraq war by the military to locate targets, among
other functions, performed well beyond the needs of
nearly any commercial system.
The Europeans have
long sought to counter US technological supremacy in
aerospace, through the French Ariane space program, for
instance, since the 1960s. That evolved into the
European Space Research Organization (ESRO), the
precursor of the European Space Agency, partly to combat
the so-called "brain drain" of scientists from Europe
owing to the explosive development of science in the
United States.
European pride was on the line
even then, with the French threatening to quit the ESRO
in 1970 unless it reduced its purely scientific programs
in favor of developing an applications satellite
program. As long ago as 1984, the United States' space
budget was already six times that of France, 11 times of
that of Germany and 11 times that of Japan.
Likewise, Airbus Industrie, which now threatens
Boeing for world dominance in the aircraft industry, was
set up by France, Germany and England to offset US
supremacy in air transport. In 1960, there were 17
manufacturers of commercial aircraft in the West. By the
late 1980s, there were three - Boeing, McDonnell Douglas
and Airbus. Today, there are two, with both the
Europeans and the Americans complaining that the other
side is subsidizing aircraft production through various
hidden means. The Europeans have also spent decades and
billions of dollars in various attempts to counter US
jet-fighter superiority.
The European Union, in
a news release dated March 26, said that if Galileo were
to go forward, it would approve the project "strictly as
a civilian enterprise", a reference to the fact that GPS
was originally developed by the US as a military system.
Others indicated it would ensure that if the US GPS
system were disabled by a terrorist attack, Galileo
could fill in. Some EU officials, however, have
privately characterized Galileo as a thinly veiled
attempt to subsidize Europe's aerospace industry
further.
For its part, the US government says it
sees "no compelling need" for Galileo because GPS should
be able to meet the needs of the global user community
for the foreseeable future. The government, according to
Ralph Braibanti, director of the State Department's
Space and Advanced Technology Staff, continues to
operate, maintain and provide GPS signals free of user
fees for civilian use across the world.
"It's
not immediately obvious why users in Europe and
elsewhere would pay voluntarily for Galileo services
when they can get the GPS signals for free," Braibanti
said in a written statement.
"Galileo's basis
positioning service (Open Signal) will offer the same
capabilities as GPS today and will also be free of
charge," the EU spokesman countered. "Added-value
service, especially for areas where human lives are at
stake such as in aviation, will have to be paid for.
Today's GPS cannot be used for these kinds of
applications. Moreover, there is no guarantee that GPS,
or a modernized GPS, will remain free of charge for all
times."
Presumably through clenched teeth, the
Americans have proposed an agreement on GPS-Galileo
cooperation. In a news release in February, Braibanti
said that if Europe goes ahead with Galileo, the United
States "would be interested in cooperating with Europe
to ensure that it is interoperable with GPS".
The US government has held a virtual monopoly on
space positioning since it developed GPS as a military
device. It has since developed into a commercial vehicle
for surveying as well as keeping track of vehicles,
aircraft, ships, or even herds of cattle. Satellite
radio navigation enables any individual to determine his
precise position down to one meter. Other commercial
uses are speed control, aid for the disabled and
elderly, public works, customs services for the location
of suspects and border controls, and search and rescue.
The EU says it has recognized the commercial
possibilities, inviting more than 500 industry leaders
from across the world to an EU briefing in Brussels on
March 18 as potential investors and users.
"The
business case is questionable," said the Weldon aide.
"It is a jobs program, a high-tech jobs program. They
are going to charge when GPS is already up there for
free. The US government is picking up the tab for GPS
because the military paid for it. It was not envisioned
as a civilian system. When it was opened up for civilian
applications, it had already been bought and paid for."
Certainly, EU member governments had threatened
to balk in December because of the cost of Galileo.
Unanimous backing is necessary. At a meeting in
Brussels, a majority of the 15 EU ministers said they
needed another three months to decide whether to spend
the 450 million euros ($495 million) needed as seed
funding. The United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany
have expressed reservations for various reasons. France
and Italy are fervent backers. However, the EU leaders
have been reluctant to finance the project without
guarantees of private backing. Even after it is up and
running, it will cost an estimated 220 million euros a
year to run it.
Enter the Chinese, who have been
asked to come up with an estimated $200 million to help
defray costs. A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in
Washington, DC, declined comment on the issue. "We know
negotiations are going forward," he said. "But we don't
have much information at this point."
Nonetheless, then-premier Zhu Rongji as long as
two years ago said China would like to become involved
on a variety of levels, including for satellite
navigation in non-transport areas such as geodetic
surveying, agriculture and fisheries. A working group
between the EU and China was set up in 2001. China's
minister of science and technology, Xu Guanhua, met
German Transportation Minister Kurt Bodewig in Berlin in
August, and other officials have met since.
"The
Chinese are involved because they could benefit from a
lot of technological knowledge the Europeans have and
the Europeans benefit because the Chinese have got the
money," said the Weldon aide. "They will have a hand in
it, they are a fledgling space power, they will learn a
lot."
However, China will not have equal rights
with Europe in respect to Galileo's planned Public
Regulated Services, according to Spacenews, a
Washington, DC-based publication devoted to aerospace
and technology. The service is an encrypted signal to be
used by government authorities for both military and
civil purposes.
Originally, the Public Regulated
Services unit was to be placed on a part of the radio
spectrum that was planned for the GPS military code,
which angered US officials concerned that it was a
threat to future US and NATO military operations. The
Europeans have since settled the issue with
international frequency regulators.
The
Europeans argue that the US still has the right to jam
GPS frequencies, and perhaps Galileo frequencies as
well, during time of war to prevent enemy use of
satellite navigation for weapons guidance or troop
navigation.
"I don't think that is a real
concern," said Weldon's aide. "Would we deny a NATO ally
use of the service during time of war? We would be
helping to defend an ally."
(©2003 Asia Times
Online Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com
for information on our sales and syndication policies.)
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