Talks Over GLONASS Station Locations in US on Hold

Russia is not willing to initiate talks over locations of GLONASS monitoring stations in the United States, Russian Space Systems deputy director General Grigory Stupak said during the fourth International School on Satellite Navigation.

"About 40 to 50 stations are planned to be located around the world. With regard to the US, we plan to locate one station in Alaska, however if there will be no station there, it will not affect the characteristics of our system. Apart from that, we are thinking about South Africa and South America. One station, as you can remember, is already in Brazil," Stupak said.

Stupak said that taking into account the global political climate, there is no point in speeding up talks with the United States over this matter.

Russian Space Systems is a Russian enterprise designing, producing and supervising space information systems. Its main product, the GLONASS global navigation system, is considered Russia's answer to the United States" Global Positioning System (GPS).

The network provides real-time positioning and speed data for surface, sea and airborne objects.