May 25, 2005
THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY IS MY ENEMY (via Governor Breck):
Germany declares satellite wars (Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, 24/05/2005, Daily Telegraph)
The German government yesterday threatened to use all means short of warfare to stop France gaining control over Europe's £2billion Galileo satellite venture, the EU's grandest industrial project to date. A rival to America's GPS Global Positioning System, Galileo is designed to break strategic dependence on the United States and propel Europe into the lead in space technology.Launching 30 satellites into orbit by 2008, the network offers pinpoint accuracy for mobile telephones, air traffic control, maritime navigation, and a host of different uses - ultimately including EU defence.
But the scheme has been hamstrung by infighting between the French and Germans, the latest case of corporate friction that belies the cosy political rhetoric of the two countries' leaders.
If only Germany had nukes... Posted by Orrin Judd at May 25, 2005 9:02 AM
What is the point of this useless venture ?
Why not just use GPS data ?
Are they afraid that someday they'll be fighting a war against the U.S., and we'll cut off their data ?
We should be so lucky.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at May 25, 2005 9:15 AMIt's just the Euros playing at "We're sooo much better than the US! Look! We have our own GPS satellites!" In reality, it's probably going to be a worthless kludgy white elephant like that damned Frog internet terminal system that was supposed to be sooo much better than what the US had back in the 90's.
Posted by: Governor Breck at May 25, 2005 9:46 AMThey want the same capability as our GPS so they can "loan" it and its capability to an entity that we may have to fight.
Posted by: Luciferous at May 25, 2005 9:48 AMJust the French pursueing their usual goals: 1> big EU project where most money gets spend in France, 2> selling weapons to tin-pot dictators.
Posted by: Daran at May 25, 2005 9:56 AMActually, I think they've already let China into the consortium, and we've already told them that, in case of war, we'll have to take Galileo out.
Posted by: David Cohen at May 25, 2005 10:07 AMMr. Cohen:
Let's just do it while it's still on the ground.
Sorry, I'm a little crabby today.
The intrade on the French EU refferendum is 42/42.8 but I will take the under.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at May 25, 2005 11:06 AMIf only Germany had nukes...
I remember a bedtime song on that very subject.
As for taking Galileo out, we've had the capability for a long time. The ASAT fired from an F-15 played a prominent role in Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising.
Posted by: Mike Morley at May 25, 2005 11:20 AM"we taught them a lesson in 1918 and they've hardly bothered us since then....."
Thanks Mike a Tom Lehrer reset is always welcome. It was my 1st thought too.
Posted by: Jeff at May 25, 2005 11:36 AMI don't see the problem with the project, except for the people running it. At $3B, it's a cheap way to get some redundancy for a service that is becoming increasingly necessary. The concept that it's a rival to GPS is clearly ludicrous. Rival for what? Would the owner of either system get a penny of revenue from it? Moreover, within 3 months of Galileo becoming operational, dual system receivers will be available in the consumer market. Within 2 years everyone will have receivers that run on both systems and do cross checks for greater reliability and accuracy.
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at May 25, 2005 8:25 PM