Galileo (satellite navigation)
Galileo is a planned satellite-based navigation system, intended as a European alternative to the US GPS. It is currently under consideration by the European Union and the European Space Agency. The system is intended to be primarily for civil use, unlike the US system. The US reserves the right to shut down GPS in time of conflict, and the precision of the signal available to non-military users was limited before 2000. The European system will not be subject to shutdown for military purposes, will provide a significant improvement to the signal available from GPS, and will be available at its full precision to all users, both civil and military.
The European Commission had some difficulty trying to secure funding for the next stage of the Gallileo project. Its states were wary of investing the neccessary funds at a time where budgets were threatened across Europe. Some states, such as France, strongly supported Galileo as a means of having technological independence from the United States. Other states, such as Germany, felt that it may be better to continue getting the service for free from the US, than paying for it themselves. The United States, after the September 11 terrorist attacks against them, wrote to the European Union opposing the project since it would defeat the usefulness of the US ability to shut down GPS in times of . On January 17 2002 the spokesman for the project said that "Galileo is almost dead" as a result of this pressure.
The European Union and European Space Agency then agreed in March 2002 to fund the project, pending a review in 2003. At a cost of €1.1 bn the required satellites will be launched between 2006 and 2008 and the system will be working, under civilian control, from 2008.