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Russia ready to hold talks on placing GLONASS signal calibration stations in Cuba

The US has refused to place GLONASS ground-based stations for signal calibration on its territory
Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) Correction and Monitoring Station in Brazil (archive) EPA/FERNANDO BIZERRA JR
Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) Correction and Monitoring Station in Brazil (archive)
© EPA/FERNANDO BIZERRA JR

KAZAN, April 22. /TASS/. Russia is ready to hold talks with Cuba on placing signal calibration stations there that will service its GLONASS global positioning system, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Wednesday.

"In a situation where the US has refused to place GLONASS ground-based stations for signal calibration on its territory, we're ready to hold talks with Cuba and thus solve the problem of furnishing GLONASS customers with the required high-precision signals." he said.

On Thursday, April 23, Cuba’s Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Cabrisas who co-chairs the Russian-Cuban intergovernmental commission is going to visit the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) where he will discuss the GLONASS issue in detail, Rogozin said.

"That’s very important for us, since Russia is one of the two countries possessing an original unique global navigation system, which enable us to offer a range of commercialized services," he said. "In this sense, Cuba is an absolutely natural partner for us."

GLONASS is a Russia-made global navigation satellite system. Satellites on three orbits and SDCMs are needed for its operation to receive signals and make measurements in Russia. The GLONASS satellite grouping consists of 24 satellites in routine operation and four satellites in orbital backup. By 2020 the GLONASS signal accuracy will be raised to 60 centimeters instead of the current 2.8 meters. Deployment of the SDCM station in Cuba should allow compensating mainly for US reluctance to install SDCMs in the country.

Russia has immediate plans to deploy GLONASS stations in Brazil and China along with Cuba