Outside View: Problems with GLONASS

MOSCOW, April 9 (UPI) -- The council of chief designers responsible for commissioning Russia's Global Navigation Satellite System has said it will only become operational in late 2008, whereas the previous deadline was Dec. 31, 2007.

Something is obviously amiss in this ambitious project, the Russian equivalent of the U.S. Navstar Global Positioning System.

According to the Russian Space Agency -- Roskosmos -- only 16 GLONASS satellites are in orbit. However, the system requires 18 satellites to cover Russia; and 24 dependable satellites operating round the clock are needed for accurate global navigation.

By comparison, some 30 operational Navstar GPS satellites are now circling the Earth. Although Russia can also launch the required number of satellites, the entire GLONASS cluster will not be equally effective as GPS satellites, and will not match their standards in the near future.

For no apparent reason, Russia once again wants to convince the world of its all-round technical prowess. Although Moscow does not have to accomplish this objective, its will provide its armed forces with an independent navigation-satellite network.

However, it would be a waste of money and material to try and facilitate the commercial success of the GLONASS on domestic and global markets.

There are no serious surveys proving that a full-fledged domestic navigation-satellite market has emerged. Moreover, the Russian defense industry will hardly be able to manufacture enough GLONASS transceivers for the population of at least major cities in the foreseeable future.

The GLONASS system's quality and capabilities also leave a lot to be desired. In late March, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said there were no plans to make the system a better system than the GPS. It is therefore unclear why Russia should manufacture GPS-compatible transceivers that cost more, emit less clear signals and are less accurate than their U.S. equivalents.

Even if Russia starts producing GPS-compatible transceivers, it has no chance of defeating Navstar GPS, which has dominated the world market for almost 20 years.

Maybe it is worthwhile emulating the experience of Russian automakers? Instead of unsuccessfully trying to promote their own models, they are now imitating the highest standards of the international automotive industry, which is economically expedient and does not hurt our national pride. At the same time, they are quite successful at manufacturing wheeled and tracked vehicles for the military.

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(Andrei Kilsyakov is a political correspondent for the RIA Novosti news agency. This article is reprinted by permission of the RIA Novosti news agency. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of the RIA Novosti news agency.).

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(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)