Russia Offers India GLONASS Deal

Russia has offered India joint participation in development of its GLONASS satellite navigation system on an equal basis

The Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), which was officially launched in 1993, is a Russian counterpart to the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS). It fixes the location and speed of surface, sea and air objects to within an accuracy of one meter.

Russia and India have been cooperating on use of GLONASS for more than four years, but Russia has not previously offered equal joint participation in upgrading the system.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who has special responsilibity for Russia's military-industrial complex, said: "We have offered our Indian counterparts not only use of the Glonass system but also participation in upgrading it. We practically see it as a joint effort. I think our Indian counterparts will be interested in it"