U.S. Air Force Awards Lockheed Martin $245 Mln Contracts For GPS III Satellites

(RTTNews) - The U.S. Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin (LMT) more than $245 million in contract options to complete production of its seventh and eighth next-generation Global Positioning System satellites, known as GPS III.

GPS III space vehicles seven and eight (SV 07-08) received initial funding under a February 2013 long lead material contract for the Air Force's second set of four satellites, GPS III SV 05-08. Similar to this current award, the Air Force exercised an option to complete production of SV 05-06 in December 2013.

The first two contracted GPS III satellites are already progressing through sequential integration and test work stations specifically designed for efficient and affordable satellite production at Lockheed Martin's GPS III Processing Facility in Littleton, Colo.

GPS III satellites will deliver three times better accuracy; provide up to eight times improved anti-jamming capabilities; and include enhancements which extend spacecraft life 25 percent further than the prior GPS block. It will be the first GPS satellite with a new L1C civil signal designed to make it interoperable with other international global navigation satellite systems.