March 15, 2002 - 22:30 AMT
CIS COUNTRIES PLAN EXPANDING COOPERATION IN COSMONAUTICS
Before the end of the year the Military-Technical Committee under CIS Council of Ministers will consider the prospects of joint creation and use of the Global Navigation Satellite System by the Commonwealth Defense Ministries. Russian mass media reports it making reference to CIS Military Cooperation Coordination Headquarters. CIS countries' cooperation directed towards developing the satellite system will start with joint elaboration of the high-precision navigation appliances, integrated with operational communication means on the battlefield. It will let solving the problems of operational monitoring of military means on the battlefield, guarding territories, objects, etc. on the basis of geo-information systems. It is suggested to create together a line of control-correcting stations to increase navigation accuracy in CIS frontier territories.