The Air Force is planning to launch a Global Positioning System IIF satellite aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on Aug. 1 from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., making it the third GPS IIF satellite launched this year and the seventh overall. “The GPS constellation continues to meet or exceed the performance standards to which the satellites were built,” said Col. Bill Cooley, director of Space and Missile Systems Centers Global Positioning Systems Directorate, in a statement. The launch of GPS IIF-7 was initially scheduled for July 31, but was put off due to repeated delays to the GSSAP launch. Cooley said on a call about the launch July 25 that the GPS could be securely in place in the satellite constellation “as early as the end of August, but, I think, more realistically, maybe mid-September.” The next GPS IIF launch is currently scheduled for Oct. 29, and it will be the first with GPS tracking ability. The remaining launches are scheduled through early 2016.
A Golden Dome task force established under U.S. Northern Command earlier this year has a broad remit, which includes fielding the capability to defend the U.S. against missile and drone attacks, its leaders said this week. Some of the primary focuses right now are ensuring Golden Dome can defend itself…