Chapter 792 Great Power Game

"They are preparing to launch satellites again." Fan Wubing replied.

"Putting up satellites?" Fan Kang was stunned. I didn't understand what Fan Wubing meant.

"It's something similar to a GPS navigation system. In China, the military is going to build a Beidou system. This has been in progress before. At this time, I'm talking about cooperation." Fan Wubing told Fan Kang explained.

Fan Kang asked with some confusion, "Is there any cooperation to discuss regarding military matters? Do I need your funding again?"

Fan Wubing smiled and shook his head and said, "What can't we cooperate with regarding the military? In fact, there are still business opportunities here, it just depends on how you take advantage of them. Building a navigation system such as GPS is mainly It is necessary to launch a large number of satellites. Satellites are still very useful. Why do you think there is no profit in it? The military only came to me because of the happy cooperation between us in the past, and the Fan Investment Group I can just spend a lot of money at any time, otherwise, how could such a good thing happen to me alone? "

"It's an independent business, that can be considered." Fan Kang's eyes lit up after hearing this.

In fact, the cooperation issues discussed by Fan Wubing and the military are not limited to the Beidou system. Instead, it involves the Galileo satellite navigation system now proposed by the European Union.

In fact, there are already fifty global navigation and positioning satellites in the sky now, but the European Union has proposed to build its own satellite navigation system, and at least thirty more Galileo satellites will be launched into the sky. Could it be that with so many stars in the sky, it is still difficult to point to Europe? The road under your feet?

French President Chirac made it clear in one sentence that without the Galileo plan, Europe would inevitably become a vassal of the United States. Behind the Galileo plan, there are not only technical, economic and political challenges, but also a deeper competition for military resources.

The main function of the global satellite positioning system is to provide navigation and positioning services for roads, railways, air and sea transportation vehicles. It includes multiple satellites orbiting the earth and can continuously emit radio signals of a certain frequency. It can hold a portable signal receiver. No matter where you are on the ground, at sea or in the air, you can receive specific signals from satellites, and then you can determine your position after analysis.

As early as the 1960s, the United States began to launch navigation satellites, which kicked off the use of satellite navigation technology by humans. At present, the GPS global satellite positioning and navigation system owned by the United States is far ahead in technology and has a monopoly. GPS includes 20 The four satellites are evenly distributed in six orbits, each satellite is about 17,000 kilometers from the ground.

At present, annual sales of GPS are as high as 8 billion euros, but with the widespread use of satellite positioning technology, the sales scale of this industry is expected to double again in the next few years.

Since the 1970s,

The United States has begun to develop the GPS global satellite positioning system and used it for the first time in the Gulf War in 1991. With the development of the new military revolution. Satellite positioning technology has become the crosshairs of war. Compared with the very popular laser, infrared, and TV-guided weapons, GPS-guided weapons are cheaper and more practical.

For example, the US military's Joint Direct Attack Munition Jdam has a GPS receiver installed on the head of an ordinary bomb, turning it into a trendy precision-guided weapon.

Judging from the current situation, the new generation of weapons developed by Western countries are moving closer to satellite positioning systems. For example, the Storm Shadow stealth cruise missile developed by Europe also relies on GPS for guidance to achieve precise strikes.

However, the problem lies in this crosshair.

The United States seems to be very generous with this strategic technology. It is not only used by both military and civilians, but also open to the whole world. Even foreign troops can use it.

However, the actual control of GPS is always in the hands of the Pentagon, and the same GPS has different accuracy. Civilian systems have an error of thirty to one hundred meters, while military systems used only by the U.S. military and NATO allies have an error of only six meters.

Even allies will suffer losses at critical moments. During the Gulf War and the Afghanistan War, Europe's use of this system was restricted, and the positioning accuracy also declined. In other words, whether your crosshair is accurate depends on whether the Pentagon approves it. approve.

Such a battle. Who dares to fight?

The gun didn't have its own front sight, so not only was it awkward for me to use, but I wanted to sell it to others, but no one else dared to take it. In the Korean Fx fighter bidding that just ended, an order worth four billion US dollars was taken away by the American F-15k. The European "Typhoon" and the French "Rafale", known as new-century fighter jets, were defeated by the outdated F-15 that had been in service for nearly 30 years. Naturally, they were very unconvinced.

But in addition to hard-selling relations, the United States can also say that although European aircraft are new, everything from aircraft to weapons relies on the American satellite positioning system. If you want the aircraft insurance you buy to be effective, should you choose European or American insurance?

Of course, if you want to rebuild a satellite positioning system, it will cost a lot of money, technology, manpower and material resources. The cost of building the satellite alone is quite a lot. If it were not forced into a corner by the Americans, the EU would not be in pain. Determined to make this decision.

If it is just a failure, Europe can still accept it, but what about the future? Are we just going to watch the American front sight dominate the world and take over all the business?

According to the information provided by the military to Fan Wubing, the EU announced the full launch of the Galileo program at a critical moment when EU countries, led by France and Germany, were selling fighter jets and combat ships to countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates. Because once the Galileo system is in place, Europeans can proudly announce that European weapons can no longer rely on American GPS. European crosshairs are equally reliable and trustworthy, and their accuracy will be higher.

The European aerospace industry has focused on satellite manufacturing and rocket launches in the past, avoiding competition in projects such as the U.S. and Russian satellite positioning systems. Nowadays, Europe is almost fully engaged, and the Galileo project in the field of satellite navigation is particularly eye-catching, which has profound economic and political considerations.

With the process of European integration, economic interests have become the main motivation for Europe to develop satellite positioning systems. The aerospace industry has always been known as the chicken that lays golden eggs. The development of Galileo satellite positioning technology will bring benefits of 9 billion euros to the EU every year, and the sale of various aviation and navigation navigation terminal equipment will bring in more than 15 billion euros in the ten years after the completion of the Galileo system. This does not include the economic benefits indirectly brought about by various space explorations and scientific experiments, as well as the considerable satellite development and launch market.

In addition, as Europe's economic strength grows, the EU's awareness of independence has greatly increased. It increasingly speaks with one voice politically and strives to reduce its dependence on the United States in terms of security. Independent exploration of space and frequent cooperation with other space powers are important parts of achieving this goal. Therefore, Europe will win over China and Russia and fully promote its various space programs.

Specifically, Europe's development of the Galileo satellite positioning system can reduce Europe's dependence on U.S. military affairs and technology. From a commercial perspective, if you want to use the American GPS global positioning system, you must purchase American signal receiving equipment. European aerospace industries such as Airbus must completely rely on the American system. If Europe has its own satellite positioning system, the European aerospace industry can develop its own satellite positioning users and sell equipment to make profits.

"If Europe wants to rise, it must confront the Americans. But if it wants to seize the American arms market, especially the most profitable high-tech weapons market for the Americans, it must have its own satellite positioning system. This cannot be circumvented. "Yes." Fan Wubing explained to Fan Kang, "But they are worried about the strong backlash from the Americans, so they are now recruiting China and Russia to join in the Galileo system project. The military is working on this. The matter got heatedly discussed, so Minister Zhang pulled me over to see if I could get involved."

"But, didn't you say that we are building the Beidou system ourselves? If we agree to the Europeans' proposal, wouldn't it be duplication of construction?" Fan Kang asked with a frown.

It is difficult for ordinary people to understand this concept. Since we are already developing the Beidou system ourselves, why should we join the EU's Galileo project?

"Actually, the truth is very simple -" Fan Wubing explained to Fan Kang, "This is a game between big powers. If the EU wants to go it alone, it will naturally have to withstand huge pressure from the United States, but as China and Russia "We also hope that the EU can stand up as a rival to the United States and break the dominance of the United States. Therefore, it is imperative to support the EU's Galileo plan."

In February this year, the European Commission released a relevant report recommending that the EU develop and deploy the European global navigation satellite system, the Galileo system, as soon as possible. This plan, with an estimated investment of 3.4 billion euros, should have been launched immediately. However, the implementation was not smooth sailing due to the mutual disputes between the eight European companies that provided funds for the Galileo project, and the fact that countries such as Germany, Italy and Spain were at odds with each other. Interests raised objections to the plan many times, making the project fraught with difficulties.

Compared with the GPS developed by the Americans, the Galileo system has many advantages. First, it has a large number of satellites and wide coverage. Second, Galileo's signal accuracy is ten times higher than GPS, and the error of determining objects is within one meter. Third, More resistant to interference. The Galileo system is also compatible with GPS. Navigation signals can be used together by Galileo and GPS, so that users can receive and combine the signals provided by the two systems at the same time, thereby obtaining a wider coverage area and more accurate services.

It is worth noting that the Galileo project has won the attention and interest of many countries outside the EU. The country is already discussing signing a multi-project contract with the EU for the Galileo project, promising to provide 200 million euros in research funding. In addition, India and South Korea are also very interested in this and have expressed their willingness to pay to join.

Americans are very angry about what the EU wants to do alone.

The satellite navigation market has broad prospects and huge profits. The Galileo project is bound to break the monopoly of the United States. It is estimated that the market share of the Galileo system will reach 300 billion US dollars, while the market share of the current monopoly of GPS may drop by more than half.

The United States has always implemented an offensive space control strategy aimed at gaining control of space. Galileo's intervention will inevitably pose a challenge to this strategy. The Galileo plan promotes European defense construction and helps Europe dominate its own security affairs, which runs counter to the United States' efforts to maintain its dominance over Europe.

Another important factor is that if China participates in the Galileo project, it will cause the United States to have doubts and worry that this plan will help China improve its military science and technology.

In fact, the challenges facing American GPS do not only come from Europe’s Galileo system. Another challenger participating in this competition is Russia’s GLONASS system.

In addition, China intends to cooperate with the European Galileo project. It is also developing its own satellite navigation system, the Beidou system. If there are no major problems, China will have a completely independent satellite navigation system in a few years.

"In short, supporting the EU's development of the Galileo program will help create greater differences between Europe and the United States, and will help us develop our own Beidou system. At least the Americans are attacking China and beginning to vigorously develop high-tech weapon systems. What will happen to them? When threatened, the Chinese can confidently retort. Since the United States has GPS and Europe has Galileo, why can’t the Chinese have their own Beidou system? "Fan Wubing said to the resistance, "So, even if it is for the sake of success? We also want to support the European Union’s Galileo project in the Beidou system. It is not outrageous to invest several hundred million euros, and there will be a share of profits in the future.”

Another reason is that China also hopes to participate in the Galileo project and gain the strengths of others, which will also have some benefits in improving its own Beidou system. At least Europe also has great merits in satellite design.

"Will Americans stand by and watch?" Fan Kang asked.

"Of course not." Fan Wubing said with a smile, "Although the U.S. government and the Pentagon have not expressed any clear opinions, the private media are very noisy. Some people even say that if the Galileo satellite is launched, It will threaten the national security of the United States. The United States may use anti-satellite weapons to knock down their satellites and ruin the efforts of the European Union.”

"How is this possible? Unless the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense are completely crazy!" Fan Kang also did not believe that this rumor would become reality.

If that is the case, the Americans will not offend a small group of people. The entire European Union and all countries participating in this plan will adopt a hostile attitude or even retaliate against the Americans.