Tuesday, March 14 2006 17:31 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Moscow: India and Russia will sign two agreements on jointly launching and developing satellites for the space-based global navigation system during Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov's New Delhi visit on March 16-17.

These agreements would put into the practical plane Indo-Russian accord on India's participation in operationalising and commercialising the ex-Soviet Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin's India visit in December 2004, diplomatic sources said.

GLONASS, currently with 17 satellites in orbit, is the Russian alternative to the US Pentagon-controlled Global Positioning System (GPS) and President Putin has ordered his space agency to fully commercialise it by 2008.

The GLONASS accord inked by the space agencies of the two countries provides for the launching of Russian navigation satellites from the Indian spaceport with the help of Indian rockets to speed up the formation of the orbital satellite cluster for globally marketing its services ahead of European Galileo.

During Moscow summit in December 2005, India and Russia also signed an agreement on the safeguard of satellite technology and intellectual property right to pave the way for free flow of technology within the GLONASS project and its commercialisation.

Earlier, during Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee's Moscow talks last year the Russian Defence Ministry had cleared the use of GLONASS by the Indian Armed Forces.