Satellite navigation for the masses!

Space.com is carrying an article on last weeks IFRI conference that questioned whether Europe really needs Galileo. The debate title is amusing given the fact that the Galileo programme has been in existence for many years. Only a European project could get itself into this state this far along the road. Nevertheless, the EC are due to provide their response to the EU’s Transport Ministers tomorrow, an event we at SN4TM Towers have been relishing for a long time.

Reflecting upon the debates at the IFRI conference it seems that the arguments for Galileo seem to boil down to one idea – independence from the US in what is an increasingly important element of infrastructure. There is some merit in this line of argumentation – whilst the US is never going to switch off GPS the future capabilities of the system, whether it offers chargeable services and the performance over Europe are under the control of a foreign government. However, the one element of this argument that is a true red herring is the need to have an independent European GNSS capability for the military.

If Europe really believes that having a GNSS of their own reduces their dependence upon the US military machine they are sadly mistaken. Europe has singularly demonstrated an inability to police its own back yard (e.g. the Balkans) without the US. Neither could you envisage Europe providing any credible form of deterrence to the newly rediscovered ambitions of its Russian neighbour.

If the argument that Europe needs its own GNSS to reduce military dependence upon the US emerges someone will have to ask the question of where the other €100Bn is going to come from for a true Europe wide defence capability. Now there is an idea…