Two Air Force Space Command space operations squadrons, the 2nd SOPS and 19th SOPS at Schriever AFB, Colo., took charge of the new GPS satellite shortly after its launch March 24. “We’re getting ready to provide its combat effects to warfighters as soon as possible,” said Lt. Col. Douglas Schiess, 2nd SOPS operations officer. The GPS IIR-20(M) spacecraft is the 34th satellite in the GPS constellation, with 31 of those 34 currently transmitting navigation and timing signals to users. AFSPC had planned to launch the satellite in June 2008, but there was a fault with the 40-second timer that triggers separation of the third stage booster that Air Force and contractor engineers had to resolve first, according to Lt. Col. John Wagner, mission director with Space and Missile Systems Center’s Launch and Range Systems Wing at Los Angeles AFB, Calif. (Schriever report by SSgt. Don Branum)
As the Space Force prepares to field new fleets of satellites that can track moving targets in the air and on the ground, it’s working to ensure it has the organizational structures in place to onboard and operate those systems.
