China says satellite network to be big asset, others can use it too (BLOG)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqmTtMmS8tCh3g2Dhhg9ArMfs3dkQ40qfjHUa4kg6UVsLFnbHqr98Xhd1cMRdD3RSFEk9POBmzt_6mpRC87mf1QykHMOR8ZyottSDSKm4U6QSbcU3xQnPLpBWgrwnO95NUmox6DGbY8ng/s1600/2013-12-27T062017Z_1_CBRE9BQ0HME00_RTROPTP_2_BREAKOUT-BEIDOU.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqmTtMmS8tCh3g2Dhhg9ArMfs3dkQ40qfjHUa4kg6UVsLFnbHqr98Xhd1cMRdD3RSFEk9POBmzt_6mpRC87mf1QykHMOR8ZyottSDSKm4U6QSbcU3xQnPLpBWgrwnO95NUmox6DGbY8ng/s320/2013-12-27T062017Z_1_CBRE9BQ0HME00_RTROPTP_2_BREAKOUT-BEIDOU.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1388631697698_5410" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">BEIJING (Reuters) - China's homegrown satellite navigation system will bring untold economic, social and military benefits and other countries in Asia are welcome to use it, the director of China's satellite navigation agency said on Friday.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1388631697698_6161" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The year-old Beidou satellite navigation system is a rival to the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) and Russian GLONASS. Beidou's 16 satellites serve the Asia-Pacific but the number of satellites is expected to grow to 30 by 2020 as coverage expands globally.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1388631697698_6166" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The system would bring benefits across the board, in both civilian and military applications, said Ran Chengqi, the director of the Satellite Navigation Office.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1388631697698_6172" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"The construction of the Beidou network should resolve the country's security issues, including economic security and the security of society-at-large," he said. "It's obviously a combined military and civilian infrastructure."</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1388631697698_6178" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"What purpose it will have for national defense or armament, that's for the armament department or Defense Ministry to consider, but I think that its uses are many," Ran told a news conference.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The successful deployment of Beidou means the increasingly potent Chinese armed forces will have an accurate, independent navigation system - vital technology for guiding the missiles, warships and attack aircraft that allow Beijing to claim great power status.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Senior Chinese military officers have said Beidou is more important for the country than manned space flight or the Chinese lunar probes now under way, according to reports in the state-run media.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">But the benefits are by no means limited to defense.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The government sees it as a commercial coup for fast-growing market satellite navigation services for cars, mobile phones and other applications.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">China is encouraging other countries in Asia to adopt it by offering the service free, as the United States does with the civilian GPS network.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Stations are being built in Pakistan to improve service there and Thailand has signed up to use Beidou for disaster forecasting.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"It's completely open," Ran said. "Technology and service both."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"Even though we still do not provide global coverage, its applications are already spreading worldwide," he said.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">This month, the cabinet approved a blueprint that envisioned Beidou capturing 60 percent of a projected 400 billion yuan ($65 billion) market for satellite navigation services in China, according to the China Daily.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The newspaper said 40 percent of Beidou's satellite applications would be for military use.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1388631697698_6182" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">(Editing by Robert Birsel)</div></div>

China says satellite network to be big asset, others can use it too (BLOG)

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's homegrown satellite navigation system will bring untold economic, social and military benefits and other cou...

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