Lockheed Martin says it has delivered the second modernized Global Positioning System Block IIR satellite to Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., where it is being prepared for launch in January. Lockheed is currently modernizing eight GPS satellites, which are designed to significantly improve the navigation performance for military and civilian users worldwide. The first modernized GPS-IIR, launched from Cape Canaveral on Sept. 25, is performing “nominally,” says Lockheed, after a series of precision maneuvers and deployment of all spacecraft systems. (DR, 09/26/05) It is currently under the control of Air Force Space Command’s 2nd Space Operations Squadron, Schreiver AFB, Colo.
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.
