Russia's Soyuz-2.1b rocket launches a Glonass-M navigation satellite.

Image is courtesy of Sputnik International.

Kazakhstan now has access to a frequency of Russia’s Glonass global navigation system used by the military to guide high-precision weaponry, a Kazakh space agency official told Sputnik as posted in that publication's online news site.

“Kazakhstan has been granted access to a high-precision Glonass navigation signal,” the official with the Kazakhstan Defense Ministry’s Aerospace Committee, Kazcosmos, said.

The frequency has also been used by India since 2010 and Algeria as of this year. Glonass is a satellite-based global navigation system that is similar to the US Global Positioning System. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in May of last year that the number of operating Russian remote sensing satellites orbiting the Earth would reach 15 by the year 2020.

Director General of Russia's Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems (ISS-Reshetnev) Nikolay Testoyedov told Sputnik earlier that Russian Glonass satellites would contain only 10 percent foreign-made components by 2022 and would completely rely on national manufacturers by 2025. While this ratio currently exceeds 60 percent, Roscosmos plans to completely substitute the foreign-manufactured components in GLONASS by their Russian-made materials by 2025, the manufacturer added.

In 2017, Roscosmos adopted its development strategy for the period until 2030, which includes the diversification of production and commercialization of space activities. The strategy came amid the increasing western sanctions which banned contracts with a number of leading Russian companies and Moscow's counteracting restrictions on technology imports.