The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology announced the launch of the eighth satellite of the Beidou-2 global navigation system on-board a Long March 3A rocket on April 10, 2011. The satellite will join seven other satellites in a constellation that will ultimately consist of thirty.
The China news agency Xinhua reported on March 20, 2011that the Beidou global navigation system is expected to generate revenues of about 400 billion yuan (60 billion US dollars) by 2020. The indigenous global positioning system is expected to have twelve to fourteen navigation satellites in orbit by 2015, which will provide navigation, timing and short-messaging services to the Asia-Pacific area
By 2020 the Beidou system is expected to have more than thirty satellites in place, which will provide global navigation much to the extent that the dominant GPS system controlled by the United States provides. There are currently seven Beidou deployed with Sunday's launch adding the eighth.
Aside from the obvious economic and civilian benefits that Bediou will provide, there is a military value to the indigenous system as well that could provide China with a strategic advantage in the Asia-Pacific region.
China's Beidou Global Navigation System
China's global navigation project Beidou began in 1983. A proposal was made by Chen Fangyun to develop a regional navigation system using two geostationary satellites. This concept was proven in 1989 using two in-orbit DFH-2/2A communications satellites in a test that showed that the precision of the two-satellite system would be equivalent to the United States' GPS. [1]
The Beidou-1 program was officially started in 1993 using the DFH-3 satellite as the platform The first two indigenous Beidou experimental navigation satellites were launched in 2000. The final Beidou-1 constellation was to consist of four geosynchronous satellites, with two operational satellites and two backups.[2]
The concept behind the two-satellite system while achieving similar accuracy to the United States' GPS, did have its drawbacks; however, it achieved with only two satellites an indigenous, independent, high-accuracy military navigation system that could function in anything less than total war with a major military power. The satellite system could also support military communications.[3]
Despite the success of the two-satellite, geosynchronous system its limitations prevented its marketability in certain areas of the global navigation market. China through a private company formed to develop the commercial applications of Beidou, therefore announced a supplementary system in 2006 that would occupy medium-earth-orbit (12-hour, 55 deg inclination, 11,339 nautical mile (21,000km) altitude circular orbits) and use the same navigation principle as the United States' GPS.[4]
The Bediou-2 system would consist of a constellation of 35 satellites: five in geostationary orbit and thirty in medium Earth orbit to provide two-levels of service. The first, a public service, would be free to China's ciitzens and have an accuracy up to 10 meters. The second service would be a more accurate military signal that would also provide system status information and the capability to manage military communications.[5]
The creation of the Bediou-2 medium-orbit global navigation system for the Asia-Pacific region represents a new regional independence from foreign global navigation systems for its civilian-sector and commerce uses. As noted by Xinhua, it will also provide a lucrative income for China's private subsidiaries, who currently look to systems such as the GPS deployed by the United States.
Strategic Implications of Bediou-2
Having a navigation system independent of GPS, Glosnoss or Galileo gives China a considerable strategic advantage in the event a hostilities should break out in the Asia Pacific Region. China has made it clear in no uncertain terms it is not pleased with the United States' presence in what China considers to be its expanding sphere of influence.
This is obvious with the United States' relations with Taiwan. Should China take military action to assert control over Taiwan, the United States could threaten to take action. With a functioning regional global-positioning system in place, China could be in a position to hinder the United States' ability to project military power by either crippling the GPS system sufficiently so that the United States military could not employ it for operations or destroying it with its inventory of ASATs. All the while, China could maintain its own GPS capability for military and civilian use.
Taiwan is not the only interest that China has in the Asia-Pacific Region, but the presence and capability of United States' military forces remains the common hindrance to those interests. The ability to deny the use of GPS to the United States in the region while maintaining a global positioning capability for itself is a great strategic advantage that China would surely employ in the event of hostilities between the two powers.
Source
Xinhua
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