Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

9 January 2004

TRANSATLANTIC RELATIONS

• The Pentagon would share its satellite know-how if the European Union adopted U.S.-backed technical standards for Galileo, its planned multibillion-dollar satellite navigation tool, U.S. officials said on Thursday. If Europe goes along, the United States also will commit to using the signal structure at issue in the next generation of its own Global Positioning System, turning it into a de facto international standard and unleashing investments, they said. European refusal, on the other hand, would harm U.S. and NATO security interests "which would be highly corrosive to the transatlantic relationship," said Charles Ries, a deputy assistant secretary of state. The United States has been pressing the EU to make sure Galileo and GPS mesh as seamlessly as possible for the benefit of users, manufacturers and service providers. Above all, the Pentagon is concerned by what it calls the M Code Overlay issue. By this, the U.S. military means it considers it unacceptable for any of Galileo's planned services to overlap the part of the radio frequency spectrum reserved by the GPS system for battlefield purposes. This "M Code" would let U.S. and NATO commanders jam GPS signals to foes within a radius of 100 to 200 kilometers. Preserving it is vital to U.S. and allied national security interests, Ries told a briefing at the State Department. (Reuters 0104 090104 GMT)

UNITED STATES-TROOP BASING

• Poland has launched negotiations with Washington on hosting U.S. military bases on its territory, Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski said on Thursday. "We expect the second round of consultations on the issue of bases early this year. It's too early to give any details," Szmajdzinski told the parliament's defence committee. He added Poland was generally in favour of hosting the bases, but the issue of who would cover their operating costs remained open. Szmajdzinski declined to confirm a newspaper report that American forces could take over an air base at Powidz, to the west of Warsaw. (Reuters 1653 080104 GMT)
  
  
• Any installations that the U.S. military might set up in Poland would be skeleton bases, the Polish defense minister said Thursday. They would be skeleton bases with rotating personnel," Jerzy Szmajdzinski said of the possible installations in Poland. "The bases would be activated in case such a need arises." (AP 081658 jan 04GMT)

AFGHANISTAN

• In a bid to improve security and expedite reconstruction in Afghanistan, President Bush plans to propose a nearly $1 billion aid package in his next budget and seek billions more from Congress and U.S. allies in future years, people familiar with the plan said on Thursday. With Afghanistan's new national constitution and presidential and possibly parliamentary elections slated for June, Bush is eager to quickly stabilize the war-ravaged country, which has been hit by a new wave of violence by Taliban elements and possibly al Qaeda despite the U.S.-led invasion. U.S. officials said they hoped to jump-start the election process. Bush also is eager to suppress new Taliban guerrilla activity -- a major threat to his declared "war on terrorism" -- before the U.S. presidential election in November. (Reuters 2217 080104 GMT)
  
• Afghanistan's new constitution balances the rights of the country's fragmented ethnic groups and should serve as a model for other developing, ethnically diverse countries, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan said Thursday. The new charter puts Afghanistan on a path toward presidential and parliamentary elections that should proceed as scheduled this summer, despite U.N. concerns that security there is inadequate and that voter registration is lagging behind schedule, said Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. The United Nations has appealed urgently for more foreign troops to provide security for national elections scheduled for June, warning that the balloting probably will be delayed and can only take place at all if safety improves. (AP 082304 jan 04GMT).