Latest Version of GPS Launches: The
Air Force launched the first modernized Global Positioning System satellite built by Lockheed Martin aboard a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., at 11:37 pm Sunday night. The satellite, a GPS IIR-M, is the first in a series of eight GPS IIR satellites Lockheed is modernizing. Among the features provided by the new sats, once they reach initial operational capability, are two new military signals and a second civil signal on a different frequency, as well as a new antenna panel for increased signal power to receivers on the ground.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.