This is a significant milestone for Lockheed Martin‘s GPS IIIA development and production contract which consists of design and development of the first two space vehicles (SV-1 and SV-2), options for as many as 10 additional production vehicles, and a Capability Insertion Program that matures technology for future increments. This GPS IIIA Spacecraft PDR follows successful completion of 69 subsystem and element PDRs. It is a significant milestone for the Lockheed Martin, ITT, General Dynamics, and Infinity Systems team, just one year after contract award. The GPS IIIA satellite development is currently on-cost, on-schedule, and meeting or exceeding all technical requirements.
GPS III is a major flagship acquisition program for the Air Force. This low-risk, high-confidence program re-established a sharp focus on systems engineering, spacecraft quality and mission success, and active engagement by the Air Force team. The Joint Requirements Oversight Committee (JROC) agreed to split the program into three increments to reduce risk and ensure on-time delivery of critical initial capabilities to our warfighters. The GPS IIIA program delivers all baseline signals delivered on current on-orbit GPS IIRM satellites, plus enhanced earth coverage M-Code signal power, an L5 civil signal, and a new L1C civil signal compatible with the European Galileo program. GPS IIIA also provides a graceful growth path to GPS IIIB and GPS IIIC capabilities.
The PDR team consisted of members from the GPS Wing, representatives from the DoD, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Space Command, Federal Aviation Administration, prime contractor Lockheed Martin (Newtown, PA), and major sub-contractors ITT (Clifton, NJ) and General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems (Gilbert, AZ). The successful completion of the PDR validates that the design meets warfighter and civil requirements, and is authorized to proceed to Critical Design. The GPS constellation currently has 30 operational satellites orbiting the Earth actively broadcasting PNT messages to users 24/7, 365 days a year, worldwide.
