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 Department of the Air Force has identified 50 programs that will make up the core of its contribution to the Pentagon’s joint all-domain command and control effort, branding them part of the “DAF Battle Network,” according to newly-released budget documents. The DAF Battle Network programs span multiple offices and agencies…