Why are US allies building their own global positioning system?
Call it a declaration of independence. By Oliver Morton In December 2001, a letter from Washington arrived at the 15 defense ministries of the European Union. The writer was Paul Wolfowitz, the forthright and hawkish US deputy secretary of defense; the subject was a European satellite system called Galileo; and the tone was far from happy. A planned fleet of 30 satellites dedicated to the broadcast of positioning data, Galileo promises to be an updated European equivalent to the familiar US Global Positioning System, whose signals allow everyone from muddled drivers to overnight hikers to pinpoint their location. Beginning in 2008, Galileo will supplement and improve on the accuracy of existing GPS satellites, serving consumers around the world. In short, Europeans will pay for a new network, while Americans, who use satellite positioning services more than most, will benefit. Morten Kettel To Wolfowitz, though, and to many others in the United States, there is more to it than that. GP
