The Air Force on Saturday launched the eleventh GPS IIF satellite from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle, after a leak in ground support equipment pushed the launch window back a day. The 10th GPS IIF satellite launched successfully in July and the final GPS IIF satellite, which was delivered to Cape Canaveral in October, is scheduled to launch in early February. The satellites help enhance precise GPS for warfighters and civilians, according to an Air Force release. “The GPS IIF satellites play a key role in our modernization effort to provide new space-based capability for users around the globe and for decades to come,” said Lt. Gen. Samuel Gre?aves, the Space and Missile Systems commander and Air Force program executive officer for space, in another release. The GPS constellation is operated by Air Force Space Command’’s 50th Space Wing at Schriever AFB, Colo.
U.S. Northern Command and multiple research organizations just wrapped up a joint, three-year experiment to test new radar technology that could enable the Northern Warning System to detect incoming threats at longer ranges across Alaska and northern Canada.