Russia, China Work on Joint High-Precision Satellite Navigation System

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia and China are in the process of setting up a joint Differential Corrections and Monitoring (SDCM) high-precision satellite navigation system, China National Space Administration (CNSA) chief representative in Russia Zhang Yuan said Tuesday.

"We are not in the process of implementing [the system]," Zhang told RIA Novosti in response to a question on the time frame for building the system's first six ground stations.

Plans for the system were first mentioned in 2015. In September, the Russian Space Systems (RSS) company said talks were ongoing. RSS deputy head engineer Grigory Stupak said that high precision would be achieved by expanding the two countries' network of SDCM system stations working with the Russian Glonass and Chinese BeiDou satellite navigation systems.

The system, intended for use by the BRICS group of countries and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, is planned to have a positioning accuracy of around 1 meter (3.3 feet) and will start with the creation of three Russian stations in China and three Chinese stations in Russia. Further 46 SDCM ground stations are planned to be constructed in Russia and eight more on its neighboring countries' territories.

The Glonass project, which was launched in 1993, is operated by the Russian Aerospace Forces and consists of 27 satellites, 24 of which are operational. The system allows real-time positioning and speed data for surface, sea and airborne objects around the world.

BeiDou currently provides navigation services within China and the neighboring regions. After completion, the project would become an equivalent of GPS, Glonass and Europe's Galileo.

In May last year, China and Russia signed the BeiDou-Glonass system compatibility and interoperability cooperation agreement, marking a new stage of navigation cooperation between the two countries.