Five down and thirty to go.
That’s the status of China’s GPS-like constellation called Compass, or by its indiginous name, Beidou.
Why go to all the trouble of having your own positioning, navigation, and timing system when you can piggyback on GPS?
China has the same reason as the Russians and the EU. They don’t want to be dependent on the U.S. for something that can be switched off (even if such an act would entail a tightwire walk over a worldly political minefield).
Does anyone much think about the parallels/irony between the Russians and the fuels used to power and heat much of Europe?
Or the fact that much of the EU piggybacks on U.S. provided security?
Songs of Space & Nuclear War 