GPS成美俄间谍战新焦点

choi

GPS成美俄间谍战新焦点
GPS成美俄间谍战新焦点. 纽约时报中文网, Nov 20, 2013
http://cn.nytimes.com/world/20131120/c20gps/

, which is translated from

Michael S Schmidt and Eric Schmitt, A Russian GPS Using US Soil Stirs Spy Fears; Proposal for antennas ignites resistance. New York Times, Nov 17, 2013 (front page).

Quote:

"In recent months, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon have been quietly waging a campaign to stop the State Department from allowing Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, to build about half a dozen of these structures ["dome-topped antenna"], known as monitor stations, on United States soil, several American officials said. * * * The stations, they [CIA and Pentagon] believe, could also give the Russians an opening to snoop on the United States within its borders.

"These monitor stations, the Russians contend, would significantly improve the accuracy and reliability of Moscow’s version [called Glonass] of the Global Positioning System * * * Earlier this year, Russia positioned a station in Brazil, and agreements with Spain, Indonesia and Australia are expected soon, according to Russian news reports. The United States has stations around the world, but none in Russia. * * * In a statement, a spokesman for the Russian Embassy in Washington, Yevgeniy Khorishko, said that the stations were deployed 'only to ensure calibration and precision of signals for the Glonass system.'

My comment:
(a) What about China’s Beidou? I have not heard of China’s setting up of monitor stations abroad, nor can I find any information online.

(b) The English-language version of cn.nytimes.com does not include two critical paragraphs that appears in print--two consecutive paragraphs that come between
(i) a paragraph starting with “Although the Cold War is over,” and
(ii) the next paragraph (again, in English version of Chinese website).

“Accepting the dominance of GPS, Russians fear, would give the United States some serious strategic advantages militarily. In Russians’ worst fears, analysts said, Americans could potentially manipulate signals and send erroneous information to Russian armed forces.

“Monitor stations are essential to maintaining the accuracy of a global positioning system, according to Bradford W. Parkinson, a professor emeritus of aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford University, who was the original chief architect of GPS. As a satellite’s orbit slowly diverges from its earlier prediction, these small deviations are measured by the reference stations on the ground and sent to a central control station for updating, he said. That prediction is sent to the satellite every 12 hours for subsequent broadcast to users. Having monitor stations all around the earth yields improved accuracy over having them only in one hemisphere.