ISLAMABAD – Pakistani military reliance on the US-owned Global PositioningSystem (GPS) will be reduced after the use of China’s Beidou satellitenavigation system which is projected to achieve global coverage by 2020.This was the crux of background discussions between former militaryofficials and telecom experts.
Beidou is the world’s fourth space-based navigation system, following GPSby the United States, GLONASS by Russia and Galileo by the European Union.According to experts, the satellite-based system plays a vital role in themodern world, especially during wartime.
According to reports when the Pakistani troops took positions in Kargil in1999, one of the first things the Indian military sought was GPS data forthe region. The space-based navigation system maintained by the US deniedit to India.
Chinese’s Beidou has covered nearly 30 countries, including Pakistan, Egyptand Indonesia and will send six third-generation Beidou satellites intomedium Earth orbits, three to inclined geosynchronous satellite orbits andtwo to geostationary orbits in 2019 and 2020.
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A report prepared by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commissionstates that China’s Beidou satellite navigation system is projected toachieve global coverage by 2020, providing position accuracies of under tenmeters (one meter or less with regional augmentation) using a network of 35satellites.
The report further states while the U.S has provided GPS signals to usersworldwide since the 1980s, China has sought to field its own satellitenavigation system
