Galileo: it turns!

The management of the Global Positioning System (GPS) by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has been the subject of increasing criticism by the global community of users in general and particularly in Europe. The European Union (EU) is considering several global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) options that would provide it with varying degrees of control, autonomy, and specificity of use. These include various GPS augmentations, a combination of GLONASS and GPS, and its own GNSS dubbed Galileo. We discuss the concerns of the global community with respect to GPS and the motives that drive the GPS globalization debate. We describe the Galileo concept and consider the likelihood for its realization