The European Space Agency launched its first Galileo satellite on 28 December 2005. When fully deployed, the Galileo system will provide a European global navigation alternative to the U.S. global positioning system (GPS) and the Russian global navigation satellite system (Glonass). The Galileo system will consist of 30 satellites (27 operational plus three active spare satellites) that are scheduled to be launched and fully operational by the end of 2008. The system will provide real-time positioning within one meter of accuracy and be fully inter-operable with the U.S. and Russian systems. However, unlike GPS and Glonass, Galileo will be under civilian rather than military control.