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Secret Diplomacy and Future Wars: The unknown drama behind the Global Positioning System

MC-130J Commando II of the Air National Guard. (DVIDS).

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The GPS (Global Positioning System), which had its first launch in 1978, has entered daily speech as a term. Yet few have heard of Galileo, the EU’s state-of-the-art next-generation Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), and even fewer are aware of its transatlantic significance.

Galileo, named after the Italian astronomer of the 16th CE, is expected to reach full operational capacity by the end of 2020, something that will require the launching and synchronization of 30 satellites–eight more than currently deployed. Galileo will be extremely accurate by providing accuracy of one meter and one centimeter for public and encrypted uses respectively. This is five times more accurate for public applications and 30-times more accurate for encrypted ones than the GPS. Yet it is not just Galileo’s accuracy that makes it an attention-worthy system.

First, Galileo is the only GNSS that is not operated by the military as are the other three GNSSs: the American GPS, the Russian GLONASS, and the Chinese Beidou. On the contrary, its operators are the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Global Navigation Systems Agency, an EU agency specifically set up for the purpose.

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Comments

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  • Avatar
    WayTooMuchGear

    Another thing I recalled is that most space hardware is hardened to resist solar storms and there is a lower likelihood of being affected by EMP's coming from a much lower altitude.

  • Avatar
    WayTooMuchGear

    Another thing I recalled is that most space hardware is hardened to resist solar storms and there is a lower likelihood of being affected by EMP's coming from a much lower altitude.

  • Avatar
    WayTooMuchGear

    Another thing I remembered is that most space hardware is hardened to resist solar storms and there is a lower likelihood of being affected by EMP's coming from a much lower altitude.

  • Avatar
    Mic-Mac

    Interesting read Stavros.

  • Avatar
    WayTooMuchGear

    Good point, YP. I know that every constellation has a number of "spare" satellites that can be called in to fill in for disabled satellites, but it would be interesting to know if they did a cost benefit analysis comparing spares vs hardening. Perhaps they've determined that EMP's just wouldn't be that effective at the orbit radius the constellation is at.