Monica Jackson
Lockheed Martin has delivered the first GPS III satellite for the U.S. Air Force to Cape Canaveral in Florida to prepare for launch possibly in December.
The company said Monday it shipped GPS III Space Vehicle 01 from Buckley Air Force Base in Colorado using a C-17 aircraft.
The satellite is designed with three times more accuracy and up to eight times’ capacity to resist jamming over the earlier-released GPS II satellite model.
It was also designed to be the first satellite to broadcast the new L1C civil signal, which is used by foreign navigation satellite systems to modernize communication services for commercial and civilian customers.
Johnathon Caldwell, program manager for navigation systems at Lockheed, said that once it enters service, GPS SV01 will help the Air Force modernize its existing GPS satellite constellation.
GPS III SV01 is the first out of 10 satellites that Lockheed will be manufacturing for the Air Force.
The service recently approved the second satellite in the GPS III fleet for launch, which is expected to occur in 2019.
