American spy plane pilots use China’s satellite navigation system BeiDou as backup to GPS, US general says
- Pilots of U-2 ‘Dragon Lady’ reconnaissance aircraft have a receiver chip in their watches that allows them to access the Chinese, Russian and European positioning systems, US Air Combat Command Chief James Holmes says
- Beidou went into commercial operation in 2018 and a third-generation service is expected to be up and running later this year
The second generation of the Chinese system, known as BeiDou, began providing global services at the end of 2018 and a third phase, with more satellites, is expected to be fully functional later this year.
While the Global Positioning System (GPS) is the first choice for pilots of U-2 “Dragon Lady” reconnaissance aircraft, BeiDou, along with Russia’s Glonass and Europe’s Galileo, serves as an alternative if GPS becomes unavailable.
“My U-2 guys fly with a watch now that ties into GPS, but also BeiDou and the Russian system and the European system,” US Air Combat Command Chief General James Holmes said at a conference in Washington on Wednesday.
“So if somebody jams GPS, they still get the others.”
Zhou Chenming, a military analyst in Beijing, said that as BeiDou was an open system, it would be easy to integrate a receiver chip into a watch and be able to access it.