| Title | EU Tells UK: Cut The BS (Brexit Satellite) and You Can Have Access to Galileo Sat's Secure Service | |
| Date | Thursday February 06 2020, @02:49AM | |
| Author | martyb | |
| Topic | ||
| from the to-BS-or-not-to-BS dept. | ||
With Brexit "done" [...] the starting position for the future relationship has been published (PDF) and, as expected, it appears the UK will have access to the Public Regulated Service (PRS) of Galileo required by the military.
It just won't be able to participate in developing the thing, and its use must also not "contravene the essential security interests of the Union and its Member States", which will doubtless set the "take back control" crowd a-frothing.
[...] Galileo was one of those moments of awakening when UK lawmakers realised that if you leave a club, you also lose access to its toys.
The UK was also blocked from working and bidding on sensitive parts of the system, much to the outrage of politicos taken by surprise at the prospect of not having access to a system into which [it] had poured funds.
[...] UK [announced] that it would build its own version.
The UK military already has access to sensitive bits of GPS, and Galileo's PRS would, certainly initially, be a handy backup. Access to PRS could also render redundant the proposed multibillion-pound Brexit Satellite (BS) system to give the UK its very own sat-nav system.
[...] And then there is the question of national ego. Dr Bleddyn Bowen, lecturer in International Relations and Space Policy at the University of Leicester, told The Register: "I don't know what prestige will be gained as the UK GNSS or Brexit System is widely seen as a waste of resources."
He added that the BS was regarded by many in the space community as "a political vanity project".
The final paragraph (136, b) of the section on Space also requires reciprocal access should the BS go ahead. Never let it be said that Eurocrats don't have a sense of humour.
[..]Should the UK find something better on which to spend the BS billions, and make use of the Galileo PRS instead, Dr Bowen observed that "the GNSS industry can fall into line with all the other industries that are finding it hard going thanks to Brexit".
[...] It wouldn't be the end of the world if 2021 rolls around and quivering fingers are pointing. "Britain could still try to negotiate on it separately again in future if it and the EU wishes," said Bowen.
"It is in the EU's defence and security interests to have the UK able to use the PRS element of Galileo as a passive user." ®
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printed from SoylentNews, EU Tells UK: Cut The BS (Brexit Satellite) and You Can Have Access to Galileo Sat's Secure Service on 2024-04-25 20:06:38