Vietnamese missiles will be guided by GLONASS

According to the head of Roskosmos Yuri Urlichich, starting from 2023, the orbital group of the GLONASS system will provide high-precision navigation services thanks to six new satellites in highly elliptical orbits.

"The orbital group of the GLONASS high-orbit space complex consists of six spacecraft, divided into pairs located in three orbital planes, which will form two routes on the Earth's surface. Navigation services with absolute precision will begin to be provided from 2023," the leader introduced.

Currently, there are 4 very popular satellite-based global positioning systems in the world: GPS of the US, Galileo of Europe, GLONASS of Russia and Beidou of China. They provide a wide range of civilian channels and only reserve the military channel for close allies to use.

In the military field, satellite positioning plays a very important role. This is the main reference channel for land-attack cruise missiles and an important tool for long-range anti-ship missiles, when it will base on satellites to more accurately determine its flight path during the target approach phase in inertial mode.

Currently, Vietnam has put into service the land-attack version of the Kalibr anti-ship cruise missile, the 3M-14TE, and is preparing to manufacture the KCT 15 anti-ship missile, which is expected to be close in performance to the 3M-24UE with a range of up to 260 km. Therefore, being allowed to use the military satellite channel is extremely necessary.

Recently, Vice Chairman of the Federation Council, the Russian Senate - Mr. Yevgeny Bushmin, said that Moscow strongly supports the early signing of an intergovernmental agreement with Vietnam on the development and use of the GLONASS satellite navigation system.

"We support the earliest possible signing of an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the use and development of the GLONASS navigation satellite system," Bushmin said at a meeting with a delegation from Vietnam.

This paves the way for Vietnam to have extensive access to satellite positioning services from Russia's GLONASS network, including military applications, in addition to traditional civilian applications.

The GLONASS system consists of 24 satellites, moving over the Earth's surface in 3 orbits with an inclination angle of 64.8°, and an altitude of 19,100 km. The first GLONASS satellite was launched into orbit by the Soviet Union on October 12, 1982, and the system was officially put into use on September 24, 1993.

GLONASS satellites continuously emit positioning signals in two forms: standard precision positioning signals (Ch) at the L1 frequency (1.6 GHz) and high precision positioning signals (C) at the L1 and L2 frequencies (1.2 GHz). The information provided by the Сh positioning signals is open to all users on a global basis and is continuous and guaranteed when using GLONASS receivers.

They are capable of determining horizontal coordinates with an accuracy of 50 - 70 m (99.7% confidence); vertical coordinates with an accuracy of 70 m (99.7% confidence); velocity component vectors with an accuracy of 15 cm/s (99.7% confidence); and precise time with an accuracy of 0.7 mcs (99.7% confidence).

The accuracy can be significantly increased, if using differential positioning method and/or special additional measurement methods. Signal C is basically designated for the needs of the Russian Ministry of Defense, and cannot be used without permission.