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India Builds Its Own GPS

truthseeker2010

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January 16, 2011: India recently announced that it is going to have its very own Global Positioning System (GPS) by 2014. This was driven more by feelings that India was lagging too far behind China. While India’s $355 million Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) was a right step in the right direction, of reducing the technology lead China has, India needs to calibrate its strategic programs to cope with China, which is the biggest potential threat.

Under the IRNSS program, India will have a constellation of seven satellites, to be raised to eleven later, which will give unprecedented operational war-time leverage to the Indian military, apart from serving as an excellent infrastructure for a host of civilian applications like in the fields of civil aviation, agriculture and fisheries. Unlike the American GPS, the IRNSS will have a limited range and that explains the ‘R’ in IRNSS. However, it will provide an absolute position accuracy of more than 20 meters throughout India and within a range extending to about 2,000 kilometers around India. The IRNSS will make a huge contribution to the country’s counter-terrorism efforts as it will quickly pass specific data about impending infiltrations in border areas so that the security forces are able to deal with the infiltrators even before they enter the Indian territory. In short, infiltration by terrorists will become a thing of the past once the IRNSS gets operational by 2014.

The IRNSS will, however, be eclipsed by China’s satellite navigation system Compass that may also get operational around the same time. The Chinese Compass will have a string of as many as 35 satellites, including five geostationary ones and the rest Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites. Compass will cover the entire globe. The necessity of a military satellite navigation system for a nation comes to the fore during war times. Depending on a foreign SatNav system like GPS can leave Indian aircraft and weapon systems at a disadvantage. The American military grade GPS can be restricted to only U.S. forces and close American allies.

A ray of hope had arisen some eight years ago when the European Galileo GPS emerged as the potential rival to the GPS. India and China became partner countries in the Galileo program with ten per cent share each, but the project has encountered one delay after another, and is still not past the prototype stage. Moreover, the European consortium never agreed to allow India or any other country have military usage of Galileo. The strategic importance of the IRNSS is enhanced all the more against this backdrop. India needs to spend much more in the IRNSS program. For example, Russia has nearly returned its GLONASS GPS system to full use, and is increasing other space related operations. GLONASS was at full strength (24 satellites) in 1995, shortly after the Cold War ended in 1991. But the end of the Cold War meant the end of the regular financing for GLONASS. Maintaining the system required launching replacement satellites every 5-7 years. There was no money for that in the 1990s. By the end of 2002, only seven GLONASS birds were still operational. Russia has since sent billions to rebuilt and maintain GLONASS. India will face the same problems, for once you build something like IRNSS, you have to spend a lot more to keep it operational.– Rajeev Sharma

Space: India Builds Its Own GPS
 
Old news, the good thing is all weapons depend on GPS and in war time we will be independent.
 
Yeah a really old news, but it is necessary for us to achieve this because it would help Indian forces to operate all 21st century weapon features.
 
India cannot have GPS because that is owned by the USA.
India is a partner in GLONASS for fullfil its own navigation needs..however GLONASS is not all that accurate like GPS.

The $500 GPS in my car give exact meter by meter tracking and real time time information update over 3G. It is accurate enough to show my location exactly close to which pavement inside a u-turn. The purpose of telling this is that GPS system was perfected over half a century and such cannot come over night by India, Russia or China.

Good thing about having own navigation system is immunity against signal jamming or transponder blocking by GPS operatives in USA. However it of little benefits if your navigation system does not cover enemy territory.
 
^^^^
Some points above (by Somebozo) need to be explained . The present edition of GPS (Navstar) was preceded by SatNav (Transit). The Navstar system was thought of in 1973. The first bunch of satellites to test and validate the system was launched from 1978 through 1985. After that the system in its present form was operationalised in 1989 and has been modified and upgraded, especially in the civilian segment.

GLONASS (the Russian GPS) was designed in the erstwhile Soviet Union in 1976. Their satellites were launched from 1982 to 1995. The fall of the Soviet Union led to parts of the system becoming inoperational. From 2003 to 2010, the Russians revived the system to full operations.

Referring to the time-line above, it is apparent that at least Russia is not setting it up from scratch or overnight.

About coverage of these systems, it all depends on the number and relative positions of the satellites along with their individual "footprints" that defines that. So one can cover one's own territory or enemy territory or wherever by that parameter. World-wide coverage is ensured by what is known as "bird-cage" deployment of satellites.
 
India cannot have GPS because that is owned by the USA.
India is a partner in GLONASS for fullfil its own navigation needs..however GLONASS is not all that accurate like GPS.

The $500 GPS in my car give exact meter by meter tracking and real time time information update over 3G. It is accurate enough to show my location exactly close to which pavement inside a u-turn. The purpose of telling this is that GPS system was perfected over half a century and such cannot come over night by India, Russia or China.

Good thing about having own navigation system is immunity against signal jamming or transponder blocking by GPS operatives in USA. However it of little benefits if your navigation system does not cover enemy territory.

Really? Please Sir, do tell us more about this mystical GPS and how much you payed for it and how you take U-Turns.

The first GPS satellite was launched in 1978 btw. Over half a century indeed. :azn:
And this article is not related to GLONASS. It's about the IRNSS.

Well will IRNSS be integrated to the GLONASS? or will it be two different entities?

As far as I know, they will be integrated and interoperable. I might be wrong.
 
Good thing about having own navigation system is immunity against signal jamming or transponder blocking by GPS operatives in USA. However it of little benefits if your navigation system does not cover enemy territory.

Satellite navigation signals like GPS is by no stretch of the imagination immune to jamming. US Navy concluded several years ago that GPS was vulnerable to jamming using relatively low tech cheap commercially available jammers. Cruise missiles like Tomahawk no longer rely on GPS exclusively, the missile has the ability to switch to a jamming immune Precision Terrain Aided Navigation (PTAN) system in the event of deliberately or unintentionally interruption. The PTAN is a line replacement unit for the radar altimeter.
 
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