The Air Force on Wednesday officially requested bids for the next GPS III satellite launch, giving SpaceX and United Launch Alliance until Sept. 19 to bid for the 2019 mission. Under the request, posted Aug. 3, the Air Force will award a firm-fixed price contract that covers launch vehicle production, mission integration, and launch operations. The Air Force in June released a draft request for proposals to industry to collect input before the final request was released, attempting to avoid a repeat of the April contract award where United Launch Alliance didn’t bid. “Through this competitive solicitation for GPS III launch services, we hope to continue fostering competition in order to promote innovation and reduce cost to the taxpayer while maintaining our laser focus on mission success,” Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center and Air Force program executive officer for space, in a news release.
The National Reconnaissance Office is seeing “great output” from its constellation of proliferated low Earth orbit satellites and is working with the Space Force and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to operationalize the capability, according to Deputy Director Maj. Gen. Chris Povak.
