2003, May 24

The Beidou-1 (and the second generation Beidou-2) navigation satellites are part of a China's own geopositioning system (GPS) to be completed by 2015. This system can be used for civilian purposes, but there is little doubt that China's main intention is to develop its own GPS capacity to improve the precision of long-range missiles and other military systems. In September 2003, China also joined the Galileo positioning system project. China will invest US$296 million in Galileo over the next few years.

Literature:

Center for Nonproliferation Studies (2006): Current and Future Space Security. China: Military Programs. Web Site.

External Web Links:

http://cns.miis.edu/search97cgi/s97_cgi?action=View&VdkVgwKey=..%2F..%2Fcnsweb%2Fhtdocs%2Fresearch%2Fspace%2Fchina%2Fmil.htm&queryzip=china&Collection=CNS+Web+Site