Space Security Index

GPS military applications include navigation, target tracking, missile and projectile guidance,
search-and-rescue, and reconnaissance. However, by 2001, military uses of the GPS
accounted for only about two per cent of its total market. e commercial air transportation
industry, with more than two billion passengers a year, relies heavily on GPS. 180 U.S.
companies receive about half of GPS product revenues, but U.S. customers account for only
about one-third of the revenue base. Demonstrating the growing importance of satellite
navigation for civilian uses, former U.S. President George W. Bush announced in 2007 that
next-generation GPS Block III satellites will not have the capability to degrade the civilian
signal. e “decision reects the United States strong commitment to users of GPS that this
free global utility can be counted on to support peaceful civil activities around the world.” 181
GLONASS uses principles similar to those used in the GPS. It is designed to operate with a
minimum of 24 satellites in three orbital planes, with eight satellites equally spaced in each
plane, in a circular orbit with an altitude of 19,100 km. 182 e rst GLONASS satellite was
orbited in 1982 and the system became operational in 1996. Satellites soon malfunctioned,
however, and the system remains below operational levels, retaining only some capability,
although eorts are again under way to complete the system. 183 GLONASS operates a
Standard Precision service available to all civilian users on a continuous, worldwide basis and
a High Precision service available to all commercial users since 2007. 184 Russia has extended
cooperation on GLONASS to China and India 185 and continues to allocate signicant
funding for system upgrades, independent of the Roscosmos budget.
Two additional independent, global satellite navigation systems are being developed: the EU/
ESA Galileo Navigation System and China’s Beidou Navigation System. Galileo is designed
to operate 30 satellites in MEO in a constellation similar to that of the GPS, to provide
Europe with independent capabilities. e development of Galileo gained traction in 2002,
with the allocation of $577-million by the European Council of Transport Ministers under
a public-private partnership. 186 After a ve-year delay, European governments agreed in 2007
to provide the necessary $5-billion to continue work on what is now a public system not set
to be deployed until 2013. 187 Galileo will oer open service; commercial service; safety-of-life
service; search-and-rescue service; and an encrypted, jam-resistant, publicly regulated service
reserved for public authorities that are responsible for civil protection, national security, and
law enforcement. 188
e Chinese Beidou system is experimental and thus far limited to regional uses. It works on
a dierent principle from that of the GPS or GLONASS, operating four satellites in GEO. 189
In 2006, China announced that it will extend Beidou into a global system called Compass
or Beidou-2 for military, civilian, and commercial use. 190 e planned global system will
include ve satellites in GEO and 30 in MEO. While Beidou will initially provide only
regional coverage, it is expected to eventually evolve into a global navigation system.
India has also proposed an independent, regional system — the Indian Regional Navigation
Satellite System (IRNSS) — intended to consist of a seven-satellite constellation. 191 Japan
is developing the Quazi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), which is to consist of a few
satellites interoperable with GPS in HEO to enhance regional navigation over Japan, but
operating separately from GPS, providing guaranteed service. 192 e system is expected to
be operational by 2013. 193
e underlying drive for independent systems is based on a concern that reliance on foreign
global satellite navigation systems such as GPS may be risky, since access to signals is not
assured, particularly during times of conict. Nonetheless, almost all states remain dependent
on GPS service, and many of the proposed global and regional systems require cooperation
Civil Space Programs
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