An Evaluation of the Military Benefits of the Galileo System

James Hasik and Michael Russel Rip

Abstract:	The US government has publicly and privately expressed concern that the planned Galileo navigation satellite system will adversely effect the integrity of its own Navstar Global Positioning System (GPS), and has also questioned the need for a system that appears superficially to duplicate its functions. Despite this concern, Galileo will resolve unfulfilled military needs in four areas: greater availability in northern latitudes, logistical automation through greater integrity, greater accuracy for all navigation satellite services through somewhat friendly competition, and greater availability in urban areas. This last advantage is perhaps the most important in light of the campaigns and operations in which NATO forces [1] may find themselves embroiled in the future. Discounting Galileo's much-debated potential for generating revenues, forgoing the system could free money for significant investments in other military hardware. Determining which would be more valuable is a difficult exercise in policy analysis, but the advantages of other systems are not overwhelming for European defense. Thus, apart from some lingering questions about the security arrangements for Galileo's Public Regulated Service (PRS), the US government's hitherto disdain for Galileo may be misplaced.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 15th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 2002) September 24 - 27, 2002 Oregon Convention Center Portland, OR
Pages:	320 - 329
Cite this article:	Hasik, James, Rip, Michael Russel, "An Evaluation of the Military Benefits of the Galileo System," Proceedings of the 15th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 2002), Portland, OR, September 2002, pp. 320-329.
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