New Delhi and Moscow firmed up an agreement for Indian participation in Russia's Glonass satellite navigation system.
NEW DELHI: Providing India with a great leap in its military capabilities, New Delhi and Moscow firmed up an agreement for Indian participation in Russia's Glonass satellite navigation system.
The Glonass (Global Navigation Satellite System) is the world's second dedicated satellite navigation system available for military applications but is not in a great shape.
Military scientists are euphoric about the agreement saying Glonass would place India in a unique position globally, given the fact that the only other satellite navigation system in the world, America's Global Position System, is available only for civilian applications.
And the third satellite navigation system under development, European Union's Galileo in which India is investing, would also be available only for civilian purposes.
Formal agreements were signed on Friday between the Indian Space Research Organisation and Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) for launching of Glonass-M satellites by a variant of India's Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). ISRO and ROSCOSMOS also agreed to jointly develop Glonass-K navigation satellites.
Authoritative sources in the military scientific community told DNA that Glonass agreement would result in India registering a massive leap in military sphere especially in launching weapon system like missiles. Glonass would provide accuracy that is not available to systems like Brahmos.
The agreement would make the Indian Space Research Organisation a partner in the Glonass (Global'naya Navigatsionnay Sputnikovaya Sistema) system which was one of the last ambitious military projects of Soviet Union before communism collapsed.
The Glonass negotiations took a formal shape in December 2004 when President Vladimir Putin visited New Delhi. In November 2005 when defence minister Pranab Mukherjee visited Moscow the two sides signed an agreement to protect intellectual property rights and satellite technology used in Glonass system.
And the Russian defence ministry also gave consent for using Glonass for Indian military.
Glonass, owned by the Russian Federal Ministry of Defence, now has just eight satellites in the space, which is clearly inadequate.
For a robust satellite navigation system with an accuracy that could be used by military 24 satellites are required in the orbit. Three of them would be available to provide details of any one position when 24 satellites are in orbit.
The Russian authorities had started revival of Glonass even before India's entry into the project. Late last year Russia had announced plans to launch three satellites to beef up the system.
Now with ISRO joining the system, some of the Glonass satellites would be launched from India. By 2008, sources say some 17 satellites would be in place to put it into military application.
Meanwhile, India and Russia on Friday decided to expand cooperation in strategic areas of civil nuclear energy and space as Moscow agreed to supply 60 tonnes of uranium to fuel-starved Tarapur reactors.
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