Lockheed Martin to provide orbital operations support of GPS IIR/IIR-M satellites

NEWTOWN, Pa., 3 May 2012. Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) has been awarded an $8.4 million contract to provide orbital operations support of the GPS IIR/IIR-M satellite constellation.

The support provided will be data evaluation, daily technical support and continuing space segment to the control segment interface. The work will be competed by February 2013 and will take place at Lockheed Martin's facilities in Newtown, Pa.

The last GPS IIR/IIR-M satellite was launched in 2009. Since then the GPS IIR/IIR-M constellation has entered into its sustainment phase, where it will continue to provide 3-D position, velocity and timing information to military and civilian users until it is eventually replaced by the GPS III program.

The GPS III, which will succeed the GPS IIR/IIR-M, is currently expected to launch its first satellite in 2014.

The GPS III program will replace aging GPS satellites while improving capability to meet the needs of military, commercial and civilian users worldwide. The satellites will deliver greater accuracy and improved anti-jamming power while enhancing the spacecraft’s design life and adding a new civil signal designed to be interoperable with international global navigation satellite systems.