December 5, 2010 three GLONASS satellites sank

Today, December 5, 2010, the Proton-M launch vehicle with three Glonass-M satellites was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome. The rocket left the start normally. and after a few hours, Roscosmos sparingly informed that the spacecraft unit was placed into an off-design orbit. Before this, various sources indicated that this unplanned orbit had already led satellites into the waters of the Pacific Ocean.
It is worth noting that the launch was epoch-making - it was expected that, thanks to three new devices (these were 111, 112 and 113 satellites of the system), the GLONASS constellation would finally be deployed to its regular strength. Obviously, this did not happen. What actually happened and what could this mean for users of the “Russian GPS” and for the system?

At the moment, the situation is unclear, and the final result on the causes of the failure can be made only after the official conclusion of the already formed commission to identify the causes of the disaster and the order of further actions. So far, various, often contradictory information has circulated, according to which problems in the flight path of the rocket began to be observed almost from the moment of launch, and ultimately led to an error in pitch of several angular degrees. It is likely that the main intrigue will lie in who is to blame - the creators of the Proton launch vehicle (Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center) or the creators of the DM-03 booster block — it was in this launch that the new modification of the DM unit (11861-03) was first tested increased refueling and greater payload.
What can this failure mean for the GLONASS system?
First, the plan to deploy the grouping to the standard configuration (24 devices of 8 in each of the three orbital planes) fails. Now only 20 satellites are working in the system, and two vehicles are not working in two orbital planes. Satellites are not eternal, and GLONASS satellites compared to GPS satellites - especially, and by the time of launch of the next three vehicles, the state of the grouping will certainly not improve.
Secondly, it is interesting that in the USSR / Russian Federation already launched 113 GLONASS satellites, and the system is still not, while in the US until now only 61 satellites were launched, and the system was deployed back in 1994 and since is fully and continuously in a healthy state. Obviously, the task of creating a competitive, "long-playing" spacecraft is a priority in comparison with the continuous launch in huge quantities of outdated devices.
Thirdly, the planned final transition of the GLONASS system to CDMA signal transmission is approaching, which makes senseless - in whole or in part - the work on creating specific GLONASS / GPS receivers.

UPD. As the investigation showed, the reason for the fall of the valuable cargo was a complex of factors, of which the most impressive was a generous overflow beyond any measure of fuel into the tanks of the upper stage. And it led to this confusion, as it turned out two weeks later, the lack of control over the documentation - “technical documentation was not worked out, control was not exercised . ”
In general, it is worth thinking about.