Lockheed Martin says it is making good progress in the preliminary design review phase of the Air Force’s GPS Block III satellite program, or GPS III for short. According to a Lockheed release March 9, its industry team, which includes ITT and General Dynamics, has successfully completed 19 out of 71 PDRs for key GPS III spacecraft subsystems and assemblies, including antennas, solar arrays, power regulation unit, and attitude control assemblies. In May, the team plans to hold a PDR for the overall GPS III space segment to ensure the preliminary design meets warfighter and civil requirements. After that, the program will advance to its critical design review phase. Lockheed’s team is working under a $1.4 billion contract awarded last May. First launch of a Block III satellite is projected for 2014.
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.
