After Years of Delays, First GPS III Launch Nears.

• Author: Mayfield, Mandy

As the Air Force prepares to launch the first of its next-generation Global Positioning System III satellites, prime contractor Lockheed Martin is moving forward with major upgrades to legacy ground control systems.

The first GPS III satellite, also known as Space Vehicle 01 (SV01), is slated to be put into orbit in December. The company shipped it to Cape Canaveral, Florida, in August, said Johnathon Caldwell, Lockheed's program manager for navigation systems. It is the first in an initial series of 10 spacecraft the Air Force put under contract with Lockheed. The company inked a $7.2 billion deal in September to build the 22 satellites required to complete the fleet.

GPS III will be the most powerful satellite of its type, with three times greater accuracy and up to eight times improved anti-jamming capabilities over the previous GPS II satellite design block, Caldwell said. SV01 will travel to space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9.

Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson has touted the importance of modernizing the existing GPS satellite constellation.

"The world is dependent on GPS, from getting directions to getting cash from an ATM or trading on the stock exchange," she said in a press release in September. "These satellites will provide greater accuracy and improved antijamming capabilities, making them more resilient."

As the Air Force readies for the launch, Lockheed Martin has begun a series of updates to the existing ground control system as the program's primary system, which is being developed by Raytheon, has fallen behind schedule.

The program to develop the next-generation operational control system, also known as OCX, has been delayed and is not expected to be finished until 2021.

Until OCX is fully available, the upgraded ground system will be used to integrate and test the new GPS III satellites, said Caldwell.

GPS III has three components--the spacecraft, the ground control system and GPS-enabled equipment. All are being developed on different timelines, and the OCX delay has complicated matters, according to a December 2017 Government Accountability Office report, "Global Positioning System: Better Planning and Coordination Needed to Improve Prospects for Fielding Modernized Capability."

In 2016, the Air Force was forced to restructure the troubled program after Raytheon failed to deliver the first two software blocks of OCX. The rising costs of the program had triggered a Nunn-McCurdy breach, which requires the Defense Department...