Ran Chengqi, director of the China Satellite Navigation System Management Office, recently noted that all the strategic goals for the second stage of the construction of the Beidou Satellite Navigation System have been achieved, and the system has full capability of stable and continuous coverage of the Asia-Pacific region, the China National Radio (CNR) reports.
The Beidou System can be used for both military and civilian purposes. Jiao Weixin, professor of the School of Earth and Space Sciences of the Peking University, said that the Beidou System has a positioning accuracy of 10 meters, a velocity measurement accuracy of 0.2 meter/second, and a timing accuracy of 10 nanoseconds, there is still room for improvement and the system is not inferior to the Global Positioning System (GPS) especially in positioning accuracy in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Beidou System can not only inform its user his/her position, but also tell his/her position to others, and thus it is especially applicable for places where navigation and mobile data communication is needed. In military, such as individual combat, the system will significantly improve the combat effectiveness. No matter whether the soldier is in mountainous area, dense forest, barren desert or wild land, as long as he/she has a terminal unit of the Beidou System, he/she can keep informed of his/her position and transmit real-time dynamics to command post which can carry out real-time monitoring and issue instructions, hence avoiding mistakes in directions and routes.
It is learnt that high-density and strong-signal electromagnetic interference is a prominent problem arising in the construction of the Beidou System. Some countries have conducted much research in interfering navigation signals and weakening the performance of precision-guided weapons. If the problem remains unresolved, China’s military strength relying on navigation and positioning, such as combat aircraft and guided missiles, will have great difficulty in maximizing its role, and therefore the combat effectiveness will be reduced.
To solve the problem, researchers of the Satellite Navigation Center of the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT) of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have developed satellite anti-interference equipment, an “electromagnetic shield”, for the Beidou System, providing another support for normal operation of the system.
The Beidou System may reduce China’s military expenditure besides providing accurate navigation service for guided missiles. A detailed research report provided by the Ministry of National Defense (MND) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) says, “The combat effectiveness of 1,465 airplanes equipped with GPS navigation equipment is equivalent to that of 1,714 airplanes without GPS navigation equipment, and the annual maintenance expenses of the additional 249 airplanes are around seven billion U.S. dollars.”
