The story has been floating about for just under a week, having been first run by the Norwegian paper Aftenposten on 13 January. AFP picked it up the same day and it was planted on some websites, but it has taken until today for the MSM to play it big. It won't be in the print edition until tomorrow, which means it's taken the British media a week to get stuck into the story. I've had it for the week but, in a moment of charity, I gave it to a contact in the hope that he could exploit it with the media but it got no further than England Expects - which is good enough, but not what I had hoped for. But then, the British media has been notoriously slack, over the years, when it comes to reporting on this project.

View full article here

Until now my money is going in German and British hands!!!

Assuming the French get their way, in the event of war we won't be able to use the 'French' GPS system to target Paris and since the Americans have cosied up to the frogs we won't be allowed to use their GPS to target Paris either....

Could this be a war the French could actually win?

As a long term professional user of GPS and being familiar with the technology and acquainted with quite a few folk in the precision GPS community, it has been a long running WTF are they up to? topic for techy conversation. The military utilisation is obviously a driver, but the entire project has been characterised by eye-wateringly extravagant splurges of public money on diamond studded talking/woffling shops and heinously expensive "trials".

The Chinese and Russians are in the space navigation game too - so EU=me too willy waving.

The value of the space segment is very dubious in terms of reliable delivery of warheads in a hot scenario where both physical attrition of the transmitters and ECM would likely negate the effectiveness of the systems and with big cheap memories , low cost inertial and terrain smart guidance software - warheads will find targets pretty much on their own (some already can - GPS being a 5th leg on the table).

A gravy train of monumental proportions, with the dining car full and vintage wines arriving at the snap of a finger or two.

Am I correct that Beagle 2 cost about £500 million and disappeared in space in December 2003. Was this an EU space project ?

Nah ... the Chinese will block the French (sorry, EU) signals, because they need the British market.

The real money is in the arms sales to China. France was never that bothered about the build.

And the UK just got rid of it's aircraft carrier and it's Harrier fleet?
They should bomb the hell out of the French for screwing us this way.

I make use of satellite navigation systems systems for air navigation.
i have different systems for back up and redundancy.
So one of my receivers makes use of the US GPS and the Russian system.

In the mean time we have DGPS (Differential)GPS systems with and enhanced accuracy by adding a fixed ground signal to calibrate the GPS signals.

This allows for instrumental landings (under bad visual conditions)

The new Galileo system is a two way system.

This means that the EU will be able to tax the use of navigation services.

I am really affraid they will make the use of the Galileo obligatory and tax the user for every mile they fly, drive or sail.

We have known for a long time that the French are crazy.

I remember a proposal long time ago where the French proposed that all cars sold in the EU needed Michelin tires.

With Galileo we will have total control of everything that drives, flies or floats and tons of costs in hardware and taxes to pay for the investment.

I think it's time to leave Europe before the First European Freedom War takes of.

This is the first time I am having second thoughts about the liberation of France during the Second World War. It should have been occupied permanently.

Galileo is a microcosm of the EU... it is wringing in garlic, it nonsensical to the eardrums but widely accepted - yet everyone is too polite to point out the obvious ruinous stench.

The best we can hope to do is to log all the people involved, so our descendants can pass mortal judgement on them.

Apologies if my last comment was 'blood libellous', but I'm pretty sure they will agree.

As has the EU itself.
Common Market, anybody?

I remember years ago, the signing of intent documents for Galileo, reported in the electronics press.
Some head honcho from the EU stating "It's a purely for peaceful, civilian use". The accompanying
photo of the signing showed the (I think) 3 poster back drop for the uses of Galileo. They showed
A soldier in full battle dress, gnarled face, firing a gun. A warship firing missiles and an inevitable
photoshopped picture of Euro-fighter ladened with all short of fantasy. I think this was published
in Electronics Weekly.

It's things like this that make me despair... The EU needs to be destroyed, it can't be reformed.

The EU goes one step further but apparently it's just a mistake that will be rectified in future years, if anyone remembers.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/01/17 ... ebrations/

The European Union has published a school calendar that omits Christian holidays, like Christmas and Easter, while noting significant Jewish and Muslim celebrations.

Indeed, it was very clear right from the beginning that the prestige and dignity of the EU was an issue in this project. I recall conversations some years back with equipment and services vendors in the survey GPS market who were of much the same opinion as Berry Smutny and were dragging their feet over project collaboration in what they perceived as an ill conceived vanity project - until ...the bureaucratic bandits in Brussels adopted a Bevanite approach to collaboration and stuffed their mouths with gold and assurances of unbridled monopolistic proprietory "service" add-ins.

I don't speak Norwegian but "Rakket" in the headline told me all I needed to know about it. Can we leave now?