Moscow, Russia, 1 September 2006: India and Russia will jointly develop a new generation GPS satellite for wider navigational application with commercial spin-offs. “Under the space co-operation agreements signed during President Vladimir Putin’s India visit, both countries will jointly develop new generation GLONASS-K satellite for the GLONASS GPS, which will function parallel with the American GPS,” Indian Ambassador Kanwal Sibal said.
Russia intends to operationalise GLONASS by 2010 by completing the cluster of 24 satellites. Under the Indo-Russian agreements some of the current Russian GLONASS-M satellites would be launched from the India with the help of Indian launch vehicles.
“The GLONASS will provide commercial services to surface transport, shipping and airlines,” he said.
