Lockheed Martin gets U.S. Air Force GPS III Contract

3rd and 4th satellites for GPS III will be built by Lockheed Martin

The U.S. Air Force has chosen Lockheed Martin for a $238 million contract to develop and build the 3rd and 4th satellites for the next generation of the Global Positioning System – GPS III.  The contract was announced last week.  Several months ago, Bethesda, a Maryland based company,  has been given a $1.5 billion contract to build the prototypes of the new satellites and their first two flight versions. Assembly of all four flight versions will be done by Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed Martin has been awarded a U$238 million contract to launch new GPS III satellites

What is GPS III

The GPS III program is intended to replace existing GPS satellites in order to improve the capability and strength of the global satellite navigation system to answer the evolving needs of business, military and civilian entities worldwide. The new satellites will deliver better accuracy and reliability along with the improved signal strength and new anti-jamming features. The GPS III is also designed to be interoperable with exisitng international global navigation satellite systems. The first GPS III satellite is expected to be launched in 2014.