Airstrip One

Galileo

The EU and the US have completed their negotiations on Galilieo.

They agreed to adopt a common signal for certain services and to preserve national security capabilities. The agreement marks the end of three years of transatlantic negotiations.

The press release does not mention the worries that the US had over EU communications interfering with their own M-band. However, CNet report that the EU backed down and accepted frequencies that it had earlier rejected in order to avoid degrading US military capabilities.

"We have now agreed on signal structures that will not degrade the navigation warfare capabilities of U.S. and military forces," said Ralph Braibanti, director of the State Department's Office of Space and Advanced Technology.

"It was never the U.S. view that we wanted to block Galileo. It is true that when Galileo was in the hypothetical phase we had reservations about it," he told a news conference.

A possible example of governmental (Member State) interests engineering concessions to the US?

(23.08, 28th February 2004)