The fourth GPS IIF satellite launched in 2014—the eighth overall—has completed on-orbit checkout, joining the active 31-satellite constellation, according to a Dec. 18 Boeing release. The vehicle launched Oct. 29 and completed on-orbit checkout Dec. 12. “We made great progress this year in the quest to modernize GPS services,” said Dan Hart, vice president of government space systems for Boeing Network & Space Systems. “With two-thirds of the 12 Boeing GPS IIFs now on orbit, the constellation is setting new records for accuracy and the Boeing GPS IIF’s are consistently among the best performing.”
While the Pentagon is halfway through its review of the Air Force’s new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program in the wake of “critical” cost and schedule overruns, the service has declared a similar issue for the helicopters meant to provide security and transport across those ICBM fields. The Air Force recently…