UK starts work on satellite system to rival EU's Galileo

London, August 29: Britain said today that it would start work on an alternative satellite system to the European Union's Galileo project to ensure its national security if it is barred from equal access to the EU programme after Brexit.

 

The British government said it would spend 92 million pounds on plans for an independent satellite system, led by the UK Space Agency with support from the Ministry of Defence.

Britain cannot afford to be excluded from core development of the EU’s Galileo satellite navigation system and will have to develop its own expensive “sovereign system” if the 27-country bloc does not change its mind, according to British PM Theresa May.

May said that the UK wants to remain involved in Galileo after Brexit, but said it was not acceptable to “be an ‘end user’, shut out from security discussions and contracts, and without critical information about the system's security”.

The Galileo system, which will eventually have 30 satellites, is designed to compete with the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), used for commercial, military and other critical applications such as guiding aircraft.

The UK has already contributed £1.2bn to the creation of Galileo but the EU has begun to exclude Britain from the security aspects of its development, triggering a row. Britain had intended its military to use the technology in tandem with GPS.