...until there are two or three independent GPS systems working, at which point no-one can switch them all off at once and the military advantage will disappear. So get on with it.

This can't happen soon enough for me, especially when I'm flying.

The EU wimped out of any technical possibility of Galileo being used for military purposes without US agreement a long time ago.

It would have to be completely redesigned, from the ground up (no pun), to enable any military use without US Governmant approval.

In addition to Seedy's point that multiple systems mean that nobody will be able to switch them off, the mentioned 'p-signal' is just a random variance added to the timing signals from the satellites. If you had signals from 2 or 3 different networks, you could do some nice averaging and work out a position much more accurate than any of the systems intend you to.

Can't wait for the inevitable miiltary faux cup when European forces call down an air strike using Gallileo co-ordinates and the USAF launch a load of smart weaponry using GPS co-ordinates and we find the two don't quite match! Friendly fire anyone?

Galileo is bad news for everyone. Where as GPS is our friend, a free service we can use for road and air navigation, Galileo is going to be both a commercial service which wont be free to use, AND have billions of public money poured in to it. But worse still governments, specifically ours, want to use it for draconian road pricing schemes charge us even more money to travel on public roads, track our every movement and issue demands for speeding tax any time and any where.

As were are letting the Chinese use Galileo, we can't even rely on them to shot the damn things down.

The EU doesn't have any military except for the 'state' militias, and when there is fighting to be done in Europe (Bosnia), they expect the US to do all the heavy lifting. With the Nato contributing only 10% of forces to European actions, and the US contirbuting 90%, why should the EU states spend the money for what they get for free from the US?

"This last prediction by the EC appears questionable, as the USA offers its NATO allies military access to the higher-precision encrypted "p-code" GPS signal. Just as with civilian GPS users, it doesn't seem especially plausible that European armed forces will want to pay for what they can get free."

Can someone just remind me, what major EU state is not a member of NATO?

What major EU state treats the EU as a cash cow and retirement home for washed up politicos?