The 2007 Air Force budget request allots $315 million to the Global Positioning System Block III satellite program, which is to offer higher anti-jam capabilities and improved accuracy and availability and integrity, as well as the capability to deny adversary use. The first launch for GPS III is slated for 2013. The 2007 dollars would fund a development contract for the spacecraft and a modernized ground segment.
After years of describing to lawmakers and Pentagon leaders the nature of that threat and the key role spacepower plays in deterring conflict in the domain and enabling the rest of the joint force, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman told reporters during AFA’s Warfare Symposium here that the message appears to…