The Hindu : International / India & World : Russia's Glonass satellites available by 2009

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 22, 2006

International

International - India & World

Russia's Glonass satellites available by 2009

Vladimir Radyuhin

It will end India's dependence on U.S.' Global Positioning System

MOSCOW: Russia will make its global communication system Glonass available to India by 2009, Russia's defence chief said.

"By the end of 2007, Glonass will become operational for Russian users, both civilian and military. By 2009, it will become global and open to those foreign states which have signed agreements with us," Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said here on Tuesday.

India joined the Glonass project in 2004. Last year, it signed a bilateral agreement on Glonass technology safeguards, which made the Indian military a full-fledged partner in the construction and use of the Russian alternative to the United States' Globan Positioning System (GPS).

Agreements signed

During Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov's visit to India last week, the two sides signed two more agreements on joint development of advanced communication satellites Glonass-K and their launch by Indian rockets.

India is the only country to get access to military applications of Glonass, which can guide missiles to targets with pin-point accuracy of up to one metre.

The use of Glonass will end India's dependence on the Pentagon-controlled GPS, which is only available in its less accurate civilian applications.

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