European Union ministers are meeting next week to implement a new European space policy which identifies military 'security' as a priority but a new report argues that this could lead to a costly 'Star Wars' arms drive.

The European Union's most ambitious technological project, a satellite navigation system designed to provide users with unprecedented accuracy, faces disaster as it remains mired in vicious disputes among the eight companies chosen to build and operate the system.

Political infighting is undermining the European Union's biggest ever joint technology programmeme: the Galileo satellite navigation network.

China's decision to expand the functionality of its satellite navigation network could undermine the economics of Europe's nascent Galileo system, according to sources close to the project.

China has registered with the ITU its intent to use frequencies that are as close to Galileo's as Galileo's were planned to be to GPS 3, in an attempt to do to the Galileo system the same thing that Europe tried, and failed, to do to the US.

The Bush administration is moving to establish a new antimissile site in Europe that would be designed to stop attacks by Iran against the United States and its European allies.

The European Union and Russia signed an agreement to improve cooperation on space activities like satellite communications, future transport systems and developing new technology.

The European Space Agency has successfully launched the first satellite in its Galileo project, a direct rival to the U.S. monopoly on space-based global positioning services.

The European Union is building its own network of spy satellites allowing Brussels to ensure nations and private individuals are obeying its policies.

India joined Europe's Galileo satellite navigation system on Wednesday, becoming the fourth non-EU country to join the program that rivals the U.S. Global Positioning System.