Will Russia Pay Us Not To Use GPS?

Somewhat lounge-in-cheek the headline, but you can’t blame me for coming to such an unfounded but logical conclusion. Russia has been doggedly attempting to complete a system of satellites called Glonass (Global Navigation Satellite System) since the early 1990’s which “competes” with or duplicates the US GPS (Global Positioning System)

Recently, Mr. Bush’s friend Vlad spoke,

President Vladimir V. Putin, who speaks often about Glonass and its possibilities, has prodded his scientists to make the product consumer friendly.

“The network must be impeccable, better than G.P.S., and cheaper if we want clients to choose Glonass,” Mr. Putin said last month at a Russian government meeting on the system, according to the Interfax news agency.

“You know how much I care about Glonass,” Mr. Putin told his ministers.

Now it’s a presidents job to give rah rah talks to the “troops”, but when he told his system developers to make the Glonass “cheaper” than the GPS he lost me. Since the US never charges anyone in the world a nickel to use the GPS, the only way this country boy can see to make a cost of zero any cheaper than zero is to pay someone to use it. Boggles the mind.

The New York Times has a decent article on recent Glonass developments where I found this nifty description of the current state of Glonass art:

At the Russian Institute of Radionavigation and Time in St. Petersburg, for example, scientists have developed the M-103 dual system receiver. The precision device theoretically operates more reliably than a G.P.S. unit under tough conditions, like the urban canyons of Manhattan.

With its boxy appearance, the M-103 resembles a Korean War-era military walkie-talkie. It weighs about one pound and sells for $1,000, display screen not included. To operate, a user must unfurl a cable linking the set to an external antenna mounted on a spiked stick, intended to be jabbed into a field.

“Unfortunately, we haven’t developed a hand-held version yet,” said Vadim S. Zholnerov, a deputy director of the institute. (my emphasis)

Don’t laugh though, I remember our own GPS program when it was even more primitive … except for the pointed stick … that’s a nice touch.

GPS to the user is as cheap as anything can be … no cost. As a system run by a US government agency it certainly isn’t cheap … but it is very efficient of the tax dollar. There are only a relatively small number of Air Force and contractor personnel involved, and, in fact, several of the prime contractors have had cash flow issues because replacement satellites on contract have not been needed when planned for due to the excellence of the original components as the dedication of the folks operating them. See:

There is value in having more satellites on orbit, as the Times article points out. Dual-use Glonass/GPS receivers can actually be bought today and using signals from both systems together the non-military user may attain a little more accuracy … but the whole venture, like the self-agrandizing Galileo system really makes me chuckle a bit.

If the jingoists who want to bankrupt their country’s treasuries to re-invent the wheel … just so they can call it their wheel were to spend equal money and effort on new enhancements to the existing system they would be far, far ahead of the game … but who am I to tell Mr. Putin not to sharpen his stick?