Lost in space!

I frequently link to the acerbic Dr. Richard North of EU Referendum who in turn links frequently to Autonomous Mind, and vice versa, and if I say that they appear to be two minds thinking alike, that is a compliment to both of them.  Today, they both point to the shit-pot farrago of the EU's attempt to produce their own equivalent of the American GPS system which has me dribbling and cooing with pleasure everytime I look at the SatNav-thingie in my car - honestly, sometime I feel like stopping the car, getting out and applauding the darling, little, clever thing, as I chant, "How do they do that?"  According to the good Doctor it was the French who first agitated for an alternative European satellite system because if push (red button) comes to shove, the Yanks can switch off their GPS system and all French military rockets will be rendered useless!  Apparently this is stymieing French military sales to China, India and other, er, 'worthy' recipients.

It is thanks to WikiLeaks (I am rapidly coming to the view that Julian Assange deserves a knighthood!) that we have learned that the German head of a major contractor involved in the project has been sacked for letting a rather large cat out of the bag; this from the good Doctor:

The basic story should have got wide coverage – far wider than it did. It involved a man called Berry Smutny, the head of a German firm, OHB Technology. He was working on the EU's Galileo satellite navigation system, being built as a rival to the US GPS system, and had called it a "stupid idea" being pushed by France for military reasons.

This comment was in a leaked US diplomatic cable, sent in October 2009 from the US embassy in Berlin and obtained by WikiLeaks. It was then picked up and released by Aftenposten.

Smutny, whose firm had been jointly awarded a €566 million contract to develop 14 satellites for the system, had condemned the project as "a waste of EU taxpayers' money championed by French interests." He claimed the EU desire to develop a redundant but alternative to GPS was "spearheaded by the French after an incident during the Kosovo conflict when the US military 'manipulated' GPS to support military operations.

Needless to say, like all government-inspired pipe dreams from Europe this has rapidly turned into the financial and technical nightmare that anyone could have forecast.  It is costing zillions more than they ever let on and even today they are still lying about the future costs  Read North's account and weep! 

 

Comments

[Autonomous Mind]

Many thanks. It is a compliment to be likened to Richard's excellent blogging. I'm also very grateful for the link.

[David Duff]

My pleasure, sir.