China and the U.S. are engaged in a battle for dominance in satellite-based positioning, navigation and timing, known as PNT, and Beijing is catching up to America’s Global Positioning System with its BeiDou satellite PNT.
In 2020, China completed the deployment of its BeiDou 3 global navigation satellite system, which is similar to GPS, according to a report published by the China Aerospace Studies Institute, an Air Force think tank.
China’s government is vowing to “gain a competitive edge” in satellite-based PNT with greater accuracy. It regards BeiDou as a key instrument of national power and power projection capabilities, the report said.
The system is used to guide and target China’s vast array of missiles and drones, the report said.
Militarily, BeiDou is central to the People’s Liberation Army’s fundamental concept of multi-domain, precision warfare. The satellite system supports precision strikes, movement of forces, communications, and situational awareness.
Advanced satellite navigation will provide the Chinese military with more freedom of action to use force, the report said.
“BeiDou’s global coverage will better enable the PLA to operate and conduct strikes globally, especially in the Western Pacific, South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa,” the report said.
The study was produced under contract by another defense think tank, CNA, and written by its China space expert, Kevin Pollpeter.
Ideologically, BeiDou is viewed by the Chinese Communist Party as enhancing its reputation and system of governance, the report said.
“The CCP can claim that the successful completion of BeiDou demonstrates the superiority of ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’ and helps legitimize the CCP’s authoritarian governance model,” the report said.
China is also working with Russia on joint satellite navigation in what state media has said is an effort to “break the hegemonic position” of U.S. GPS, which is widely used around the world.
“In sum, BeiDou assists the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in achieving its goals of increasing the country’s national power and ushering in a multipolar world and extends the competition between the United States and the PRC to the field of satellite PNT,” the report said.
“If PRC plans are successful, BeiDou will enable China’s military to conduct precision strikes against adversaries and could lead to the loss of international influence for the United States and expand market opportunities for PRC commerce,” the study said.
BeiDou is closing the gap with GPS in terms of technology and political acceptance. It boasts more than 2 billion users with better than 9-meter positioning accuracy and in some cases 5-meter accuracy, the report said.
GPS has more than 6 billion users and can pinpoint items with 4.9-meter accuracy. It has both military and civilian signals.
The Chinese satellites are also in high geosynchronous orbit, providing better signals in urban and mountain areas, compared with the 24 GPS satellites in medium-altitude orbits.
GPS is being modernized with plans for 22 third-generation satellites that are three times as accurate and eight times as resistant to electronic jamming than earlier satellites.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.