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Mix-Ansicht- Galileo: battle-ready by 2010 - zani, 11.03.2004, 10:07
Galileo: battle-ready by 2010
-->Guten Morgen
Published: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 08:00:00 GMT+00
Hughes Beaudouin
“In an initial phase we will propose Galileo for use in planning humanitarian actions, police and civil protection operations, and to assist coastguards. No-one can object to this. In a second phase it will be very simple to adapt it to military ends.”
Senior French source, talking to EUpolitix.com
Galileo may be battle-ready by 2010
Europe’s home-grown Galileo satellite system could have military applications as early as 2010, senior French officials have told EUpolitix.com.
The move risks putting noses out of joint across Europe and the world. Pacifist governments in the Nordic bloc and Ireland are resistant, while reluctance is also expected from those less integrationist national capitals wary of any move towards a common EU army.
Washington too is eyeing with caution any move to create a European equivalent to, and competitor of, its own GPS satellite navigation system which currently has a world monopoly.
"But we cannot let our armies remain dependent for much longer on American goodwill” the top French source confided.
“Imagine, all it would need is for the Americans to scramble their GPS, which they could do at any moment, and all air-strikes and military operations would grind to a halt.”
France and Germany - who “thanks to their technological superiority are spearheading Galileo”, in the French official’s own words - are opting for a softly-softly approach. They stress that military uses, while on the cards, could be more than a decade away.
“Nothing will be done before 2010 or 2015,” the official continued.
“In an initial phase we will propose Galileo for use in planning humanitarian actions, police and civil protection operations, and to assist coastguards. No-one can object to this.”
But, he added, “in a second phase it will be very simple to adapt it to military ends”.
The first to think of military applications for Galileo were neither from the military, nor from governments, indicate French officials.
Rather it was industry itself that saw significant commercial opportunities opening up.
The US army for example has already developed a new sophisticated uniform incorporating GPS technology that allows US soldiers to pinpoint each other in the ‘fog of war.’
The French army, which has developed the same kind of uniforms, is tied to using GPS. “Imagine the potential market once Europe’s armies are using Galileo for all their equipment” enthused the French source.
But the true victory for Europe is that the EU has managed to sign up Russia, China, India and Israel as cooperation partners on the Galileo project. “These deals are essential for Europe because these countries represent enormous markets. On this front we have outpaced the US” the French insider said.
But as some of the signatories represent security risks, Galileo experts are quick to reassure that it will always be possible to scramble the European system in case of major conflict.
In any case, they will never have access to encrypted frequencies called PRS, used by Europe’s national governments for domestic operations like police, civil protection, border surveillance, and EU authorities like Europol, OLAF, the maritime safety agency and peace-keeping missions.
Tr. D. Lumsden
<ul> ~ Galileo</ul>
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