Pentagon Trying to Block Advanced EU Space Project

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 12:16:06 -0800 (PST) From: Cheri Reply-To: ParanoidTimes@yahoogroups.com To: paranoidtimes@yahoogroups.com Subject: [ParanoidTimes] Pentagon Trying to Block Advanced EU Space Project U.S. Out of Line on Global Positioning, EU Says Barry James International Herald Tribune Wednesday, December 19, 2001 PARIS - The European Commission said Tuesday that the United States had sought to block the deployment of a European system of navigation known as Galileo, with the Americans arguing that an enemy could turn it against the West in the event of a war. The U.S. move added to the economic and political pressures surrounding the project in Europe, where many countries see it as a vital means of catching up with America in a key technology sector but others balk at the expense. Only last weekend, at a summit meeting in Brussels, leaders of the European Union instructed government ministers to try to resolve the financing issues by March. A spokesman for the commission said the U.S. Defense Department had written to the defense ministers of the 15 EU countries warning that Galileo could be used by an enemy and asking governments to consider scrapping the project. But President Jacques Chirac of France warned that Europeans risked "vassal status" if they abandoned this and other important space projects. France and several other governments, as well as the European Commission, see Galileo as a vital counterweight to the U.S. Global Positioning System, which has a vast number of military and civilian applications, from landing smart weapons on target to locating trucks on a continental highway network. The United States offers free use of the Global Positioning System to the EU countries, but the commission spokesman, Gilles Gantelet, said there was no guarantee that it would still be free in 10 years' time. Loyola de Palacio, the European commissioner in charge of the Galileo project, angrily denounced the prospects of further delays. "We are at the limits of coherence already," she said, "and any new delay threatens the profitability of the project." While the United States had originally expressed its support for the European project, Mrs. Palacio said there was now "a letter and pressure exerted by the United States. American pressure against the Galileo project has increased since September 11." The commission says the project must be operational by 2008 to be profitable. This is partly because the World Telecommunication Union has guaranteed radio frequencies only up to that date, and partly because the EU has entered into commitments with a number of other countries, including the United States, Canada, Russia and China. Under the worst possible scenario, including the need for backup launchers and satellites, the final bill to deploy Galileo could be as high as E3.6 billion ($3.2 billion), according to an independent accounting survey carried out on behalf of the commission this year. But the accounting study also estimated that Galileo would generate economic benefits more than four times greater than that, with wide scale applications in transport and personal communications, and a vital contribution to the operations of police, fire and emergency services. The study indicated substantial social and economic benefits, "notably for the protection of the environment, employment and European technological development." Mr. Gantelet said the U.S. objections were contained in a letter dated Dec. 4 from the deputy secretary of defense, Paul Wolfowitz. He said the Americans considered, "in times of conflict, they would have problems because of Galileo. They feel that the enemy could use some applications of Galileo and that they could not impede that." According to diplomatic sources who have seen the letter, Mr. Wolfowitz said the United States was planning to upgrade its Global Positioning System by separating the military and civilian spectra. The addition of Galileo services in the same spectra, the letter said, "will significantly complicate our ability to ensure availability of critical GPS services in times of crisis or conflict and at the same time assure that adversary forces are denied similar capabilities." He said the U.S. government was willing to work toward finding acceptable solutions to "avert potentially serious impacts." The apparent U.S. bid to block Galileo is likely to have the most resonance precisely in the countries most skeptical about the project: Britain, the Netherlands and Germany. They argue in essence that it is pointless to spend so much money on something they can get for free from the United States. Because of their objections, EU transport ministers refused on Dec. 7 to release money to fund the next phase of the project. In a speech to the National Center for Space Studies in Paris, Mr. Chirac said that satellite navigation had vital commercial and industrial applications and would be a key factor in the European Union's ambition to build up an independent security capability, with the planned creation of a rapid reaction military force. Mr. Chirac said the United States spent six times more on space ventures than the European Union. Not to react to U.S. space conquests, he said "would lead our country inevitably to a vassal status, first scientific and technical and then industrial and economic." http://www.iht.com/articles/42335.html ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Send FREE Holiday eCards from Yahoo! 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