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.
The Space Force may establish a combatant component in Japan soon, Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Saltzman said in a news conference in Tokyo on Sept. 25. According to multiple media reports, Saltzman said setting up a new unit in Japan represents the "next phase" in joint initiatives aimed at…