"They are ready to release the satellite again." Fan Wuyao replied.

"Let the satellite?" Fan Kang was taken aback for a moment. Did not understand the meaning of Fan Wubing.

"It's something similar to a GPS navigation system. The domestic military is going to build a Beidou system. This has already been done before. At this time, I'm talking about cooperation." Fan Wuyi said to Fan. Kang explained.

Fan Kang asked in a puzzled manner, "What kind of cooperation is there to discuss with regard to the military? Do you want to sponsor funds again?"

Fan Wubing smiled and shook his head. "What can't we cooperate with the military? In fact, there are still business opportunities in it. It just depends on how you use it to establish a navigation system like GPS. It is necessary to shoot a large number of satellites. Satellites are still very useful. Why would you think that it is unprofitable? The military came to me only because of the happy cooperation between you in the past and the Fan Investment Group. I can take out a lot of money at any time, otherwise, how could such a good thing fall to me alone?"

"Single business, that can be considered." After Fan Kang heard it, his eyes were bright.

In fact, the issues of cooperation discussed by Fan Wuyao and the military are not limited to the Beidou system. It involves the Galileo satellite navigation system proposed by the European Union.

In fact, there are already fifty global navigation and positioning satellites in the sky, but the European Union has proposed to build its own satellite navigation system. At least thirty Galileo satellites will be launched into the sky. Is there so many stars in the sky that don’t mean Europe? The road under your feet?

French President Jacques Chirac broke the secret, without Galileo's 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 level of 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. It includes multiple satellites orbiting the earth, which can continuously emit radio signals of a certain frequency. If you have a portable signal receiver Whether 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 opened the prelude to 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 in a monopoly position. GPS includes 20 Four satellites are evenly distributed in six orbits, and each satellite is about 17,000 kilometers from the ground.

At present, the 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 in the next few years.

Since the 1970s, the United States has been developing the GPS global satellite positioning system, which was used in the Gulf War in 1991. With the exhibition of the new military revolution. Satellite positioning technology has become the sight of war. Compared with the very popular laser, infrared, and television guided weapons, GPS guided weapons are cheaper and more practical.

For example, the US military’s joint direct attack ammunition, Jdam, is equipped with a GPS receiver on an ordinary bomb head, which becomes a trendy precision-guided weapon.

As far as the current situation is concerned, the new generation of weapons developed by Western countries are moving closer to satellite positioning systems. For example, the storm shadow stealth cruise missiles developed by Europe also rely on GPS to guide them to achieve precision strikes.

However, the problem lies in this front sight.

For this strategic technology, the United States seems to be very generous, not only for military and civilian use, but also open to the whole world, even foreign military teams can use it.

However, the actual control of GPS is always in the hands of the Pentagon, and the same GPS has different accuracy. The civil system has an error of 30 to 100 meters, while the military system used only by the US military and NATO allies has an error of only six meters.

Even allies will suffer dumb losses at critical times. During the Gulf War and the Afghanistan War, the use of the system in Europe was restricted and the positioning accuracy was also reduced. That is to say, your front sight is not accurate, depending on whether the Pentagon approves it. approve.

Such a battle. Who dares to fight?

There is no sight on the gun. Not only is it awkward to use it, but if you want to sell it to others, others dare not ask for 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 French "Rafale", known as the fighters of the new century, were defeated by the old F-15, which had been in service for nearly 30 years. Naturally, I was very unconvinced.

However, in addition to hard-selling by pulling relations, the United States can also tell some truths. Although European aircraft are new, from aircraft to weapons, they all rely on the US satellite positioning system. If you want the aircraft insurance you bought to work, do you choose Europe or the United States?

Of course, if you want to rebuild a satellite positioning system, the capital, technology, manpower and material resources are huge, and the cost of satellites alone is quite a lot. If it weren't for being forced into a corner by the Americans, the EU would not be in pain. Determined to make this decision.

If it is only a failure, Europe can still accept it, but what will happen in the future? Do you just watch the U.S. front sight dominate the world and take all the business away?

According to the information provided by the military to Fan Wuyi, the reason why the EU will announce the full launch of the Galileo plan is at the critical moment when EU countries, such as France and Germany, sell fighter jets and warships 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, and European front sights are equally reliable and reliable, and their accuracy will be higher.

In the past, the European aerospace industry has focused on satellite manufacturing and rocket launches, avoiding competition from the United States and Russia in projects such as satellite positioning systems. Nowadays, Europe has almost fully attacked, especially the Galileo project in the field of satellite navigation, which has profound economic and political considerations.

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

In addition, with the growth of European economic power, the European Union’s awareness of independence has greatly increased, politically speaking with one voice more and more, and security is also trying to reduce its dependence on the United States. Independent exploration of space and frequent cooperation with other space powers are an important part of achieving this goal. Therefore, Europe will win over China and Russia and fully advance its various space programs.

Specifically, the Galileo satellite positioning system in Europe can reduce Europe’s dependence on American affairs and technology. From a commercial point of view, to use the US GPS global positioning system, it is necessary to purchase American signal receiving equipment, and European aerospace industries such as Airbus must completely rely on the US 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 a profit.

"If Europe wants to rise, it has to confront the Americans. But if you want to seize the American arms market, especially to seize the American's most profitable high-tech weapons market, it must have its own satellite positioning system. It was opened." Fan Wuyao explained to Fan Kang, "but they are worried that the Americans will have too strong a backlash, so they are now recruiting China and Russia to participate in the Galileo system project together. The military is doing this. The matter was discussed fiercely, so Minister Zhang pulled me over to see if I also got in."

"But, didn't you say that we are working on the Beidou system ourselves? If we agree to the European proposal, wouldn't it be repeated construction?" Fan Kang frowned and asked.

It is difficult for ordinary people to understand this concept. Since we are all engaged in the Beidou system ourselves, why should we join the EU's Galileo program?

"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 naturally has to withstand the tremendous pressure from the United States. China. I also hope that the EU can stand up as an opponent of the United States and break the unique situation of the United States. Therefore, it is imperative to support the EU’s Galileo plan."

In February this year, the European Commission announced a report, recommending that the European Union develop and deploy the European global navigation satellite system, the Galileo system, as soon as possible. This plan is expected to invest 3.4 billion euros, which should have been launched immediately, but the implementation has not been smooth. The eight European companies that fund the Galileo plan are arguing with each other, and countries such as Germany, Italy, and Spain are out of their own hands. Interests have repeatedly raised objections to the plan, which has caused difficulties for the plan.

Compared with the GPS developed by the Americans, the Galileo system has many advantages. First, it has a large number of satellites and a wide coverage. The second is that Galileo’s signal accuracy is ten times higher than that of GPS. The error of determining objects is within one meter, and the third is The anti-interference is stronger. The Galileo system is also compatible with GPS, and the navigation signal can be used by both Galileo and GPS, so that users can receive and synthesize the signals provided by the two systems at the same time, so as to obtain a wider coverage area and a more accurate service.

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

Americans are very annoyed by what the EU wants to do alone.

The satellite navigation market has broad prospects and large profits. The Galileo plan is bound to break the dominance of the US monopoly. It is estimated that the market share of the Galileo system will be as high as 300 billion U.S. dollars, and the current monopoly market share of gps may drop by more than half.

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

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

In fact, the challenges faced by the American gps do not only come from the European Galileo system. Another challenger to participate in this competition is the Russian GLONASS system.

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

"In short, supporting the EU’s Galileo Plan will help create greater differences between Europe and the United States, and help us develop the Beidou system. At least the Americans have begun to vigorously develop high-tech weapons systems when they attack China. How will it affect them? When threatened, the Chinese can confidently refute that since the United States has GPS and Galileo in Europe, why can’t the Chinese have their own Beidou system?” Fan Wubing said to the resistance~lightnovelpub.net~ Therefore Even if it is to successfully develop the Beidou system, we must support the EU's Mar Galileo plan. Investing several hundred million euros is not an outrageous thing. If you make a profit in the future, you will still have a share. "

The other reason is that China also hopes to participate in the Galileo project, to gain the strengths of others, and to improve its own Beidou system, at least Europe is also very desirable in terms of satellite design.

"Will Americans stand by?" Fan Kang asked.

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

"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 such rumors would become a reality.

If that's the case, the Americans offended are not a handful of people. The entire European Union and all countries participating in this plan will adopt a hostile attitude and even retaliate against Americans.