Prime Minister Theresa May has told officials to begin work on a satellite-navigation system comparable to the EU's Galileo project after the EU threatened to stop the UK from joining it. The chancellor, Philip Hammond, has approved $129m (up to £100m) for the scheme. The UK has contributed €1.4bn to Galileo, which is set to go into service in 2020 as an alternative to the United States's GPS system. The UK's armed forces said they wanted access to Galileo as the US had kept GPS, the best system, for itself but the EU said UK access would damage security.
Prime Minister Theresa May has told officials to begin work on a satellite-navigation system comparable to the EU's Galileo project after the EU threatened to stop the UK from joining it. The chancellor, Philip Hammond, has approved up to £100m ($129m) for the scheme. The UK has contributed €1.4bn to Galileo, which is set to go into service in 2020 as an alternative to the United States's GPS system. The UK's armed forces said they wanted access to Galileo as the US had kept GPS, the best system, for itself but the EU said UK access would damage security.