Latest GPS IIR-M Sat Goes “Gold” For Lockheed Martin

The modernized Global Positioning System Block IIR (GPS IIR-M) satellite, launched from Cape Canaveral on October 17th, has been declared fully operational for military and civilian navigation users around the globe. This announcement last week follows a successful on-orbit checkout by a combined U.S. Air Force/Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] team. The satellite, designated GPS IIR-17M, is the fourth in a series of eight Block IIR-M satellites. Each satellite brings new capabilities to military and civilian users of the GPS system, featuring a modernized antenna panel that provides increased signal power to receivers on the ground as well as two new military signals for improved accuracy, enhanced encryption and anti-jamming capabilities for the military, and a second civil signal that will provide users with an open access signal on a different frequency.





Lockheed Martin’s operations team conducted the on-orbit deployment and checkout of all spacecraft systems in just over six days. This allowed Air Force Space Command’s 2nd Space Operations Squadron (2 SOPS), based at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado, to conduct the navigation payload initialization. The satellite was subsequently declared operational on October 31st for both civil and military users. The satellite joins three IIR-M satellites and 12 other operational Block IIR satellites within the current 28-spacecraft constellation. The team is currently preparing the fifth GPS IIR-M satellite for its scheduled launch on December 20th, 2007 from Cape Canaveral. The Global Positioning Systems Wing, Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, is planning to launch the three remaining GPS IIR-M satellites next year, one of which will include a new demonstration payload that will temporarily transmit a third civil signal, known as L5.




Lockheed Martin is also leading a team which includes ITT and General Dynamics in the competition to build the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation Global Positioning System, GPS Block III. The nextgen program will improve position, navigation, and timing services for the warfighter and civil users worldwide and provide advanced anti-jam capabilities yielding improved system security, accuracy and reliability.




A multi-billion dollar development contract is scheduled to be awarded by the Global Positioning Systems Wing, Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif. in early 2008—Denver, Colorado