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EU's Galileo sat-nav system's budget overruns continue, European Commission asks for an extra €1.9 billion
The European Commission has just completed its mid-term review of the EU's Galileo satellite navigation system and -- surprise, surprise -- they found that they need an additional €1.9 billion ($2.56 billion) to finish the system. This latest budget recommendation ups the cost an extra €200 million ($269 million) since the Commission's last report, and cites larger development and more expensive launch vehicles for the increase. The EU remains optimistic that Galileo will provide a financial windfall when completed -- but given its estimated €800 million ($1 billion) per year operating costs, constant delays, and competition from Russia, China, and good old-fashioned GPS, we're not so sure we agree.
Europe's Galileo satellite navigation system at a "dead end"
Europe's answer to GPS, Galileo, may be making some technological progress these days, but it looks like it still has some serious challenges of another sort to overcome if it's going to move forward as planned. According to the BBC, the main problem at the moment is that the consortium of companies building the system have yet to agree on a single company structure to oversee the ambitious endeavor, and they're now about the run against the May 10th date that had been set to get things sorted out. As a result, the European Commission is now reportedly planning to put forth new proposals to completely overhaul the project, which could see an increased cost to taxpayers in the EU. Whatever the problems, the parties involved had better not waste too much time getting their act together -- we hear the Russians are coming on strong with their own challenge to the GPS throne.[Thanks, Stewart]
