US Air Force Declares Second GPS III Satellite Ready For Launch - Lockheed Martin

US Air Force Declares Second GPS III Satellite Ready for Launch - Lockheed Martin

The US Air Force declared the second of ten new GPS III satellites is technically sound and ready for launch into orbit, defense contractor Lockheed Martin said in a news release on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st August, 2018) The US Air Force declared the second of ten new GPS III satellites is technically sound and ready for launch into orbit, defense contractor Lockheed Martin said in a news release on Tuesday.

"With two GPS III satellites now ready for launch, and the third GPS III expected to be ready by early next year, we're building strong momentum," Lockheed Martin Navigation Systems program manager Johnathon Caldwell said in the release. "These satellites will soon begin modernizing the current GPS constellation with new capabilities and more advanced technology."

Lockheed Martin said the new generation of satellites will have three times more accuracy than the ones currently used for the Global Positioning System (GPS) and up to eight times improved anti-jamming capabilities.

The first new GPS III satellite received the available for launch designation in September 2017 and is currently being prepared for shipment to Cape Canaveral in the US state of Florida for a launch before the end of the year, Lockheed Martin said.

Lockheed Martin, which is in full production on all 10 GPS III satellites, submitted a proposal to the US government in April to build up to 22 additional GPS III Follow On satellites, which would bring even further enhanced capabilities to the GPS constellation's more than four billion users.