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China Joins EU in Galileo Satellite Venture
CHaN_316 writes "Yahoo has posted a story that says China to Participate in Galileo Satellite Program. 'The agreement provides for cooperation in satellite navigation, technology, industrial manufacturing, market development, frequency and certification'. This is definitely a good boost to the satellite program since it injects fresh cash into the project. There are probably strategic reasons for joining this network since it's an alternative to the American controlled GPS system. Here's more information about Galileo." China is also moving quickly toward getting a man in space.
Europe chafs at the idea of having it's access to GPS denied every time the US get in a war with someone. If anything the US is being a bad ally by insisting on the ability to cut off Europe's access to a positioning system.
The civilian "spin" is not a crock. The US has a larger military than the Europe and China combined and both of them have many more civilian uses for a positioning system than military uses.
Furthermore the idea of "cheap" precision guided bombs is a bit silly. It takes a hell of alot more than unfettered access to an accurate positioning system to build a precision guided weapon. The technology for cruise missiles is a closely held secret of the US military, and most "smart weapons" are guided not by GPS but by laser marking.
Iran and North Korea would hardly be helped by access to a positioning system because they don't even have missles with enough range to make such access usefull.
This is why I made my earlier joke about "ally" meaning "lackey", or "bitch" in American English. The US does not seem to consider someone an ally if they have even the possibility of doing anything counter to the will of the US. True alliance is an agreement of partners not of masters and slaves.