This study investigates Europe’s motives to develop the independent satellite navigation system known as Galileo despite the existence of America’s successful global positioning system (GPS). The study begins by analyzing both systems to familiarize the reader with global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) and to provide an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of GPS and Galileo, as well as the systems’ similarities and differences. Although the two systems have different founding principles, they employ similar infrastructures and operational concepts. In the short term, Galileo will provide better accuracy for civilian users until GPS upgrades take effect. But performance is only...

In 1633 the Roman Catholic Church declared Galileo Galilei a heretic because his beliefs conflicted with the status quo.¹ Almost four centuries later, Europeans have christened their proposed global navigation satellite system (GNSS) with the independent thinker’s name, a not so subtle challenge to the status quo dominated by America’s global positioning system (GPS). Considering that GPS has become a global public good, an international utility paid for by the United States and free for use by anyone, and that most of Western Europe has been a staunch American ally since World War II, Europe’s pursuit of the Galileo GNSS...

In this chapter I compare the two navigation systems to determine critical similarities and differences and to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. Specifically, I attempt to determine GPS operational deficiencies from a European perspective and the extent to which Galileo intends to improve upon them. The assessment begins with a review of the primary purpose and sponsorship of each system, followed by an examination of active and proposed system infrastructures, services, limitations, and vulnerabilities.

The raison d’être and sponsorship of the two navigation systems produce two fundamentally different outlooks. As previously discussed, GPS was driven by the military’s need for...

In 1996 the US government pledged to provide GPS “for peaceful civil, commercial and scientific use on a continuous worldwide basis, free of direct user fees,” and it has largely kept its word.¹ Since its operational inception in 1994, GPS remains omnipresent and complementary. However, Europe, America’s traditional ally for the past six decades, has decided to expend 3.6 billion euros to pursue its own satellite-navigation system. Why would anyone pay to build a capability that is already available for free? Only the Soviet Union, America’s Cold War enemy, saw fit to build a Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) primarily...

The European public and private sectors, driven by the motives outlined in the previous chapter, have provided the necessary financial and political backing for Galileo to proceed to the development phase. Additionally, Galileo has attracted interest and investment from many non-European nations, including the People’s Republic of China. With this groundswell of international support, Galileo is fast becoming reality. Assuming Europe implements Galileo as planned, the implications for US space policy are significant, and its response will be carefully monitored around the world. In this final chapter, I examine the national security and economic concerns generated by the emergence of...