Lockheed Martin announced on April 16 that it has been awarded a contract worth up to $105 million by the U.S. Space Force to continue modernizing and sustaining the Global Positioning System (GPS) ground control network.
The contract aims to support resilient positioning, navigation, and timing services for both military and civilian users who rely on the GPS constellation for critical operations and daily activities such as transportation, banking, and utilities.
According to Lockheed Martin, this new agreement builds on more than a decade of work under the Space Force’s Architecture Evolution Plan. The company will support launch, early orbit, and disposal operations for GPS IIIF space vehicles while enhancing capabilities for military and civilian users. “For more than ten years, Lockheed Martin has delivered and sustained operational GPS ground capability, evolving the system to provide resilient and mission-proven services that underpin daily warfighter operations,” said Christina Mancinelli, vice president of Global Communication & Navigation at Lockheed Martin. “Our continued work on the integrated GPS enterprise reflects an unwavering commitment to delivering reliable capability to the warfighter and to users around the world.”
Upgrades under this contract are intended to strengthen end-to-end GPS enterprise service continuity for national defense as well as commercial applications. Launch capabilities provided through this award will enable more M-Code-enabled GPS IIIF satellites in orbit, increasing signal resiliency for military use.
Lockheed Martin reports it has completed production of all GPS III satellites—these offer eight times greater resiliency and three times higher accuracy compared with earlier models—and is now focusing production efforts on next-generation GPS IIIF satellites at its Denver facility. These spacecraft are designed with anti-jam signals that are 63 times more powerful than previous versions.
The company said these advancements will further expand performance of the global positioning system constellation for both national security needs and international customers.
