Air Force launches 8th new Lockheed GPS satellite
A global positioning satellite launched from Cape Canaveral this morning was the last of eight GPS satellites modernized by Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Navigation Systems team in Newtown, the company said.
A global positioning satellite launched from Cape Canaveral this morning was the last of eight GPS satellites modernized by Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Navigation Systems team in Newtown, the company said.
Lockheed identified its U.S. Air Force customer for the satellites as the Global Positioning Systems Wing, Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif.
"We look forward to successfully executing a smooth and efficient on-orbit checkout and making this advanced satellite operational for the war-fighter and civil users around the globe," Col. Dave Madden, the U.S. Air Force's GPS Wing Commander, said today in a statement.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems, of Newtown, is the prime contractor for the program, Lockheed said.
Lockheed said last year that it had won a $1.46 billion contract to build yet another generation of global-positioning satellites scheduled to begin launches in 2014, with a big chunk of the work planned for the Philadelphia suburbs.