Article Posted on : - Feb 09, 2015

BEIJING (PTI): China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) on Friday concluded a two-day drill for testing the country's independently developed global satellite navigation system 'Beidou' in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The military used the Beidou Navigation Satellite System for precise positioning and navigating, real-time location reporting and data transmission over long distances, PLA General Staff Headquarters said.

Beidou, which is stated to be rival to US GPS, has allowed the armies to be more precise in command, weapon firing and logistics and that the technology has "been integrated into the PLA's modern command system and weapon platform, official media quoted the PLA press release as saying.

Beidou is the Chinese equivalent of the United States' NAVSTAR Global Positioning System and Russia's Global Navigation Satellite System.

Currently, Beidou has 20 satellites.