A Russian Rokot carrier rocket blasted off from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia early on Wednesday to put a Gonets-M and two Kosmos satellites into orbit, a Defense Ministry spokesman said.

The launch took place on schedule at 07:30am Moscow time (03:30 GMT), Lt. Col. Alexei Zolotukhin said, adding that the satellites are expected to separate from the carrier rocket at 09:14am Moscow time (05:14 GMT).

The Kosmos satellites will be used to provide communication for military purposes. The Gonets-M satellite will be part of Russia's large-scale Glonass satellite navigation system.

Glonass — the Global Navigation Satellite System — is the Russian equivalent of the U.S. Global Positioning System, or GPS, and is designed for both military and civilian use. Both systems enable users to determine their positions to within a few meters.

Russia currently has a total of 26 Glonass satellites in orbit, but two of them are not functional. The system requires 18 operational satellites for continuous navigation services covering the entire territory of Russia and at least 24 satellites to provide navigation services worldwide.

By mid-October, a total of 23 satellites are expected to be operational.

MOSCOW, September 8 (RIA Novosti)