Annual sales revenues from commercial applications of Europe’s planned Galileo satellite navigation service could reach 400 million euros ($425 million) by 2015, according to Hispasat CEO Jacinto Garcia Palacios.

When operational in 2008, the 30-satellite Galileo constellation will offer significant improvements in the efficiency and safety of air, sea, rail and road transportation, Garcia Palacios told attendees during his speech Tuesday in Brussels. The system will provide a “unique opportunity” for the European aerospace industry to maintain a high level of technology, as well as security and defense, he added.

The objective of the Galileo project is to afford Europe a global infrastructure for fully autonomous and civil satellite location and synchronization services as a complement to the current North American Global Positioning System (GPS) and Russian GLONASS, Garcia Palacios said. Hispasat owns a stake of 14.28 percent in Galileo Sistemas y Servicios (GSS), the operating company for Spain’s interest in the Galileo project.