Posted on 05/08/2007 1:24:24 PM PDT by MrNJ
Europe's $4.9 billion satellite navigation system is in deep crisis and will require more public funds to get back on track, the European Union said.
The Galileo project -- Europe's rival to the U.S. Global Positioning System, or GPS -- has already seen major delays because the eight companies in the consortium are arguing over how to divide the workload.
The consortium of companies from France, Germany, Spain, Britain and Italy has been given until Thursday to set up a joint legal entity to run the project or risk losing control of it. But German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee, speaking on behalf of the EU, said he had "little hope left" the consortium will end the infighting in time.
"Galileo is in a profound and serious crisis. We're in a dead-end street," Tiefensee said. "The cardinal problem is that the companies still have not been able to agree on the way forward. We need to find an alternative solution." . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
How is it a failure? No ones lost there job have they?
I agree with the other replies to your post, plus one more reason why the EU wants their own GPS system.
It was explained to me by someone who works on our system that their system was specifically designed so that, with minor software tweaks, it could be made to interfere with our GPS system. They wanted to be able to make credible threats to our ability to use our advanced weaponry which relies on our GPS system. It was less important whether we could devise a defense against them than that they could introduce one more lever to use against us and try to block our ability to act.
This is one more legacy of the old Europe of Chirac and Schroeder. They will not be missed and will be increasingly viewed with disdain in the years to come.
Pride, envy, etc.
What a shame. Galileo is based on some cool, modern technology. But this artificial make-work socialist trans-national collaboration crap, as ginned-up by bureaucrats and pencil-pushers, never works. This one reminds me of a certain robust two-word phrase, first word begins with “c”, second word begins with “f”, first word is “cluster”...
Because the EU has entered a pissing contest with America. They have to be better, bigger, faster, smarter, whatever-er, or they crap out.
What the EU doesn't realize is that their system SUCKS. Socialism will never trump a free market. Never. That's the bottom line, sports fans.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.