Grand GPS IIR Performance By Lockheed Martin + Team

In a ceremony heralding the success of the U.S. Air Force’s Global Positioning System Block IIR modernization effort (GPS IIR-M), Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] announced the company has completed work on the last satellite in the program constellation, which features a demonstration payload that will transmit the new civil signal, known as L5. Preparations are now underway to ship the satellite to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, for a scheduled launch in June 2008. With more than 150 of its employees, as well as representatives from ITT Corporation, the Aerospace Corporation, and the U.S. Air Force, the Lockheed Martin team today celebrated the success of the GPS IIR program, which is providing enhanced operations and navigation signal performance for military and civilian GPS users around the globe. Work on the final IIR-M satellite was completed one month ahead of schedule and in less than one year after the Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a 6M/USD contract to develop the demonstration payload that will transmit a third civil signal located on the L5 frequency (1176.45MHz). The signal will comply with international radio frequency spectrum requirements. Future generations of GPS spacecraft will include an operational third civil signal to improve the accuracy and performance capabilities of the system—King of Prussia, Pennsylvania