Glonass is the acronym for the Global Navigation Satellite System, the Russian equivalent of the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS). Designed for military as well as civilian use, both systems allow users to identify their positions in real time.

A satellite production corporation official said last month a fully operational Glonass system would consist of 30 Glonass-M and Glonass-K satellites by 2010.

The system currently consists of 18 satellites and is designed to provide navigation and positioning data covering the whole territory of the Russian Federation.

Another six satellites will be added to the Glonass system in 2008, and the first two improved Glonass-K satellites are set to be launched in 2009.

The future modification, Glonass-K, which will be operational for 10 years, is expected to orbit from 2010. Glonass-K is an entirely new model based on a non-pressurized platform, standardized to the specifications of the previous models' platform, Express-1000.

A total of 9.88 billion rubles ($380 million) was allocated for Glonass from the federal budget in 2007, and 4.7 billion ($181 million) in 2006.

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