An Evaluation of the Military Benefits of the Galileo System

摘要

The U.S. government has publicly and privately expressed concern that Europe's planned Galileo navigation satellite system will adversely affect the integrity of its own Navstar Global Positioning System (GPS) and duplicate its functions. The 30-satellite Galileo system will, if brought to fruition, be the most technically sophisticated and costly European space initiative to date. The system's technical features may exceed those of GPS in terms of enhanced accuracy, increased signal strength, and its contribution to the worldwide COSPAS-SARSAT search-and-rescue program. However, from the perspective of a U.S. government intent on encouraging greater and more-effective arms spending in Europe, Galileo is a frustrating priority. In the words of Frank Kramer, a former U.S. assistant secretary of defense, it is difficult to understand how European members of NATO could spend "money duplicating a system when so many other needs exist."