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"They're ready to put satellites again." Fan replied.

"Put satellites?" Fan Kang was stunned for a moment. I didn't understand the meaning of Fan Wuxi.

"It's something similar to the GPS navigation system, and the country should focus on the military to build a Beidou system, which has been carried out before, and is talking to me about cooperation at this time." Fan Wuxian explained to Fan Kang.

Fan Kang asked a little puzzled, "What is there to talk about in the military's affairs, is there any need for you to sponsor funds?" ”

Fan Wuxian shook his head with a smile and said, "What can't be cooperated with in the military's affairs?" In fact, there are still business opportunities here, but it depends on how you take advantage of it, the establishment of GPS such a navigation system, mainly requires the launch of a large number of satellites, the usefulness of satellites is still very large, how do you think this is unprofitable? The military came to me only because everyone had cooperated happily in the past, and Fan's Investment Group was able to come up with a lot of money at any time, otherwise, how could such a good thing fall on my head alone? ”

"It's a separate business, then you can consider it." After Fan Kang heard this, his eyes also lit up.

In fact, the cooperation discussed between Fan Wuzhi and the military is not limited to the Beidou system. Rather, it involves the Galileo satellite navigation system proposed by the European Union.

In fact, there are already more than 50 global navigation and positioning satellites in the sky now, but the EU has proposed to build its own satellite navigation system, and at least 30 more Galileo satellites will be launched into the sky.

French President Jacques Chirac made it clear that without the Galileo plan, Europe would inevitably become a vassal of the United States. Behind the Galileo plan, there were not only technical, economic and political challenges, but also a deeper struggle for military resources.

The main function of the GPS is to provide navigation and positioning services for road, rail, air and sea vehicles, it includes multiple satellites orbiting the earth, which can continuously transmit radio signals of a certain frequency, and a portable signal receiver can receive specific signals from satellites whether they are on land, sea or in the air, and then can determine their position after analysis.

As early as the 60s, the United States began to launch navigation satellites, which opened the prelude to the use of satellite navigation technology by mankind; at present, the GPS global satellite positioning and navigation system owned by the United States is far ahead in technology and is in a monopoly position, and GPS includes 24 satellites, evenly distributed in six orbits, each satellite is about 17,000 kilometers above the ground.

Currently, GPS sales are worth 8 billion euros a year, but the industry is expected to double in the next few years with the widespread use of satellite positioning technology.

Since the 70s, the United States has been working on the development of the GPS global satellite positioning system, which was first used in the Gulf War in 1991. With the development of the new military revolution. Satellite positioning technology has become the crosshairs of warfare, and GPS-guided weapons are cheaper and more practical than the very popular laser, infrared, and television-guided weapons.

For example, the US military's joint direct attack munition JDAM, which has a GPS receiver on the head of an ordinary bomb, has become a trendy precision-guided weapon.

Judging from the current situation, the new generation of weapons developed by Western countries are moving closer to satellite positioning systems, such as the Storm Shadow stealth cruise missiles developed by Europe, which also rely on GPS to guide them to achieve precision strikes.

However, the problem lies in this crosshair.

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

However, the actual control of GPS has always been in the hands of the Pentagon, and the same GPS has different degrees of accuracy. The error of the civilian system is 30 to 100 meters, while the error of the military system, which is only used by the US military and NATO allies, is only 6 meters.

During the Gulf War and the Afghanistan War, Europe's use of the system was restricted, and the positioning accuracy also decreased, which means that your crosshair is not accurate, depending on the Pentagon's approval.

Such a battle. Who dares to fight?

The gun does not have its own crosshairs, not only is it awkward for its own use, but others dare not ask for it if they want to sell it to others. In the just-concluded South Korean FX fighter bidding process, four billion dollars worth of orders were taken away by the American F-15K. The European "Typhoon" and the French "Rafale," which are known as the fighters of the new century, were defeated by the outdated F-15, which has been in service for nearly 30 years, and they were naturally very unconvinced.

However, in addition to pulling relations and selling hard sales, the United States can also explain some reasoning: Although European planes are new, they rely on the US satellite positioning system for everything from aircraft to weapons. If you want your aircraft insurance to work, do you choose European or American?

Of course, if you want to rebuild a satellite positioning system, the capital, technology, manpower and material resources consumed are huge, and the cost of satellites alone is quite a lot, and if it were not forced into a corner by the Americans, the EU would not have made up its mind to make this decision.

If it's just a failure, Europe is acceptable, but what about the future? Do you just watch the US crosshairs dominate the world and take away all the deals?

According to the information provided by the military to Fan Wuji, the reason why the EU announced the full launch of the Galileo plan is a critical moment for EU countries led by France and Germany to sell fighter jets and combat ships to Malaysia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and other countries. Because once there is a Galileo system, Europeans can proudly declare that European weapons can no longer rely on American GPS, and that European crosshairs will be just as reliable and reliable, and with greater accuracy.

In the past, the European space industry has focused on satellite manufacturing and rocket launches, avoiding competition for projects such as the US-Russian satellite positioning system. Today, Europe is almost in full swing, especially in the field of satellite navigation, the Galileo project is notable, with deep economic and political considerations.

With the process of European integration, economic interests have become the primary motivation for Europe to develop satellite positioning systems. The space industry has always been known as the chicken that lays golden eggs. The development of Galileo satellite positioning technology will bring 9 billion euros per year to the European Union, and the sale of various aviation and marine navigation terminals will generate more than 15 billion euros in revenue in the 10 years after the completion of the Galileo system. This is not counting the indirect economic benefits of various space exploration, scientific experiments, and the considerable market for satellite development and launches.

In addition, as Europe's economic power grows, the EU's sense of independence has been greatly strengthened, and it has increasingly spoken with one voice politically, and it has also tried to reduce its dependence on the United States in terms of security. Independent exploration of space, as well as frequent cooperation with other space powers, is an important part of achieving this goal. Therefore, Europe will win over China and Russia and go all out to promote its various space programs.

Specifically, Europe's development of the Galileo satellite positioning system can reduce Europe's dependence on the United States and technology. From a commercial point of view, in order to use the American GPS global positioning system, it is necessary to purchase American signal receiving equipment, and European space industries such as Airbus must rely entirely on American systems. With Europe's own satellite positioning system, the European space industry can develop its own satellite positioning users and sell equipment for profit.

"If Europe wants to rise, it has to work against the Americans, but if it wants to seize the arms market of the Americans, especially the most lucrative high-tech weapons market for the Americans, it must have its own satellite positioning system, and this cannot be avoided." "But they are worried that the backlash from the Americans will be too strong, so they are now pulling China and Russia together to participate in the Galileo system project." The military was having a heated discussion on the matter, so Minister Zhang pulled me over to see if I could get in as well. ”

"But, didn't you say that we ourselves are working on the Beidou system? If the Europeans agree to the proposal again, wouldn't it be a duplicate construction? Fan Kang asked with a frown.

It is difficult for ordinary people to understand this concept, since we are all working on the Beidou system ourselves, so why do we need to join the EU's Galileo plan?

"Actually, this truth is also very simple-" Fan Wuxian explained to Fan Kang, "This is a game between major powers, and if the EU wants to go it alone, it will naturally have to bear the huge pressure of the United States, but as China and Russia." It is more desirable to see the EU stand up as an adversary of the United States and break the situation of the United States standing alone, so it is imperative to support the EU's Galileo plan. ”

In February this year, the European Commission released a report recommending that the EU develop and deploy the European Global Navigation Satellite System, or Galileo, as soon as possible. The plan, which is expected to invest 3.4 billion euros, was supposed to be launched immediately, but it was not all smooth sailing, as it was difficult due to the rivalry between the eight European companies that financed Galileo and the repeated objections to the plan by countries such as Germany, Italy and Spain for their own interests.

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

It is worth noting that the Galileo plan 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 on the Galileo plan, promising to provide 200 million euros of research and development funds, in addition, India and South Korea are also very interested in this and are willing to contribute money to join.

Americans are very annoyed that the EU wants to go it alone.

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

The United States has always pursued an offensive strategy of space control aimed at gaining space supremacy, and Galileo's intervention will inevitably pose a challenge to this strategy. The Galileo plan would help Europe take ownership of its own security affairs, which would run counter to the United States' efforts to maintain its dominance over Europe.

Another important factor is that China's participation in the Galileo program will cause the United States to be suspicious that the program will help China improve its military science and technology.

In fact, the challenge for GPS in the United States is not only from Europe's Galileo system, but also from Russia's GLONASS.

In addition, China intends to cooperate with the European Galileo Project. It is also developing its own satellite navigation system, the Beidou system, and if there are no major problems, in a few years, China will be able to have a completely autonomous satellite navigation system.

"All in all, supporting the EU to develop the Galileo plan will help to create greater differences between Europe and the United States, and help us build our own Beidou system, at least when the Americans attack China and begin to vigorously develop high-tech weapons systems, how to threaten them, the Chinese can justifiably retort, since the United States has GPS, Europe has Galileo, then why can't the Chinese have their own Beidou system?" Fan Wuxian said to the resistance, "Therefore, even if it is for the smooth development of the Beidou system, we still have to support the European Union's Magalileo plan, and it is not outrageous to invest hundreds of millions of euros, and there will be a share of the profits in the future." ”

Another reason is that the Chinese side also wants to participate in the Galileo project, and to gain the strengths of others, which also has some benefits for improving its Beidou system, at least Europe is also very desirable in terms of satellite design.

"Will the Americans sit idly by?" Fan Kang asked.

"Of course not." Fan Wuxian said with a smile, "Although the US government and the Pentagon have not issued any clear opinions, the non-governmental media are very noisy, and some people even say that if the Galileo satellite is launched, it will threaten the national security of the United States, and the United States may use anti-satellite weapons to shoot down their satellites, so that the efforts of the European Union will be in vain." ”

"How is this possible? Unless the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense are completely insane! Fan Kang also doesn't believe that such rumors will come true.

If that is the case, the Americans will not be offended by a small number of people, and the entire European Union and all the countries involved in this plan will take hostile attitudes and even retaliatory actions against the Americans.

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