During 
the second annual Office of the Secretary of Defense-led Global Positioning System enterprise review, or AGER, Air Force space officials achieved significant GPS milestones, according to a release from the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles AFB, Calif. Among them, the GPS Block IIIA space vehicle program received authorization “to initiate long-lead parts procurement for the first two production satellites,” states the release. Lockheed Martin is scheduled to deliver the first Block IIIA spacecraft in mid-2014. Members of the review panel also approved the plan for fielding a launch and checkout system to support the launch and subsequent control of the first Block IIIA satellite before the full-up next-generation GPS operational control segment (OCX) is fielded. “We have made great progress while keeping the right focus on mission success,” said Col. Bernard Gruber, GPS program director at SMC, in commenting on the review’s results.
The U.K. and the U.S. will continue to enjoy access to the ports, airfield, and workshops at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for at least another century, under a deal inked between the U.K. and Mauritius May 22.