Amid persistent development and testing delays, the Space Force is considering canceling a long-delayed effort to develop a ground system to manage its newest GPS satellites, a spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine.
GPS III
The Space Force is changing launch providers for an upcoming GPS III launch amid an ongoing investigation into United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket. The payload, initially slated to fly this month on Vulcan, will now launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket no sooner than ...
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched a GPS III spacecraft on Jan. 27, the ninth of 10 planned GPS III spacecraft to reach orbit. The GPS III satellites bring increased accuracy and anti-jam capabilities to the GPS constellation, which now numbers 32satellites.
USSF Seizes Opportunity to Reform Space Acquisition By Courtney Albon The Space Force has a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to change the way it develops and delivers space capabilities, said Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman at AFA’s Air, Space,...
GPS III Space Vehicle-08 lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., May 30.
Everything’s coming together to make 2025 a pivotal year in the Space Force’s long-running effort to make GPS more resistant to jamming, a senior service official said April 29. “That entire architecture is really focused now on meeting the anti-jam and spoofing threat,” Cordell A. DeLaPena, ...
The Space Force successfully launched its seventh GPS III satellite into orbit Dec. 16—shaving more than a year and a half off the typical timeline for launching the highest priority national security spacecraft and switching rocket providers to do it.
Every day, over 12,000 miles above our heads, Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites work silently to keep everything from military exercises to everyday activities on track. Their positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) are crucial to U.S. military operations that protect our national...
The U.S. Space Force and SpaceX successfully launched the sixth GPS III satellite into orbit Jan. 18, bolstering the crucial position, navigation, and timing constellation. The launch, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex-40, took place at 7:24 a.m. Eastern, with the satellite riding SpaceX’s ...
The Department of the Air Force’s biggest acquisition accounts generally kept costs down in fiscal 2021 compared to the year before, even as the programs' projected timelines continued to lengthen, a new DAF report found. In particular, the report showed significant cost savings in the ...
The House Appropriations Committee released its draft of the fiscal 2022 defense budget on June 29, adding C-130s and MQ-9s to the Air Force’s budget request while leaving the service’s request for F-35s and F-15EXs untouched.
The Space Force plans to try out a used rocket booster—a first under the National Security Space Launch program—when it launches the fifth GPS III satellite on June 17. The new satellite likely will amount to a modest improvement in GPS location accuracy but with ...