Definition - GLONASS (for Globalnaya Navigatsionnay Sputnikovaya Sistema), the Russian Federation's Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), is the Russian version of a global positioning system. Similar to the United States' Global Positioning System (GPS), GLONASS is owned and operated by the military. GLONASS provides two separate levels of precision: deliberately degraded (for security purposes) signals for civilian users offer accuracy to within 100 meters, while its signals for military users offer accuracy of 10-20 meters.
GLONASS was designed to operate a system of 24 satellites (21 operational, and three spares for failover redundancy) orbiting at a height of 19,140 kilometers in three circular planes, at an inclination of 64.8 degrees relevant to the equatorial plane.
