Europe GPS Plan ShelvedExasperated European
Exasperated European officials say U.S. pressure appears to have torpedoed a $3 billion project to build a European version of the U.S. global positioning system, which uses signals from orbiting satellites to track geographical position within 36 meters. The proposed system, dubbed Galileo, was intended to give Europeans more autonomy, both industrially and militarily. That's no small concern, since the United States can selectively block access to GPS, as it has during the military campaign in Afghanistan.
I'm surprised. While Europeans may bristle at Microsoft's hegemony, dependence on US-based GPS will prove even more limiting.