Russia will shut down 11 American GPS stations on June 1 at least temporarily, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin announced earlier this week. Rogozin is responsible for Russia’s military-industrial complex, defense policy and military technology partnerships.
The move threatens to bring a halt to the entire set of stations deployed in Russia by the United States under U.S.-Russia bilateral agreements from 1993 through 2011.
At the same time, Rogozin added, a ban will be imposed on the use of Russian rocket engines sent to the US for launching military satellites.
According to ITAR-TASS, closing the GPS stations is tied to difficulties placing Russian Glonass stations in the US. “The GPS stations will be permanently closed on September 1st if negotiations on the placement of Glonass stations in the US are not concluded by then,” the news agency reported.
In a tweet on May 13, Rogozin called for “cooperation on an equal footing” with the US in this field.
Problems arose with the construction of Glonass stations in the US at the end of 2013 – even before the Ukraine crisis – when American President Barack Obama signed the 2014 military budget into law.
That document effectively banned the building of Glonass land stations on US territory. Under the law, Russia could only build Glonass stations in the US if the Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence assured Congress that the stations will not be used for espionage or to increase the effectiveness of Russian weaponry, and will also not diminish the commercial attractiveness of the American GPS global positioning system.
Land stations are used by navigation satellites for differential correction and monitoring to increase the accuracy and reliability of their system.
Thus, he closing of the American stations in Russia could lead to a decrease in the accuracy of positioning in the GPS system, just as Glonass would be similarly affected by the US government’s recent move.
Making room for Glonass… and uncertainty
Glonass was launched 35 years ago as a Russian alternative to international navigation systems, in particular the American GPS. Supported by massive state investment, the satellite constellation for global coverage was completed in 2011, and since then the system has generated interest from a range of international players.
However, the system is far from trouble-free and is no doubt keeping its Russian government operators sweating – just last month eight of the 23 total Glonass satellites went dark for at least 30 minutes.
Experts anticipate more breakdowns ahead as the system adjusts to its new global capabilities, and Russia compensates for the loss of American spacecraft components banned by the recent sanctions.
