Re: Definitely Russian or Chinese hacking
No, it isn’t.
Firstly, we are dependent on US GPS, not Galileo. For a history of such systems, you need look no further than Glonass. Your smartphone can and does use it, it’s a parallel system to GPS, nobody outside of specialists knows it is there, and it is rapidly degrading to uselessness because it isn’t economically maintainable.
It’s more like saying the U.K. doesn’t need its nuclear defence to be Trident submarines. Trident is primarily a defence against overwhelming first-strike, otherwise land-based would be cheaper and more effective. And it is equipped with US-made missiles, so it isn’t independent anyway.
In just the same way, Galileo signal design has to be exactly compatible with the US system, and it’s clocks need a special interface to be synchronised to US GPS, otherwise Galileo stops working immediately. In any political scenario where the US withdrew its cooperation over GPS, Galileo would simply be blocked. This is a bureaucratic fantasy of independence not backed by technical realities.
Also, GPS/Galileo is obsolescent tech. Next gen tech, already at pre-commercial, goes back to dead-reckoning using chip-scale atomic clocks and gyroscopes within the user device. It has already been demonstrated in a “ruggedized satnav brick” form factor, but doesn’t fit in a smartphone yet. No satellites required. Probably about 5+ years to commercial launch, but spending 10bn to develop a re-tread system that only makes economic sense if it is amortised over the next thirty years, is not a good use of anybody’s money.
And lastly, if you are depending on Brussels to intervene militarily in a Ukraine-style conflict, that isn’t going to happen. Agreed it is a problem that a Trumpster US may no longer stand behind East Germany. In which case, I’m afraid god help them. And if they won’t stand behind Western Europe, then god help us all. But in neither case does spending 10bn on a “road to nowhere” help anyone.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
