WASHINGTON – The U.S. Space Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a $514 million contract to build two additional GPS 3F satellites.
GPS 3F is the Army’s next generation navigation constellation designed to improve resiliency against jamming and other electronic threats.
Lockheed Martin said on June 15 that the award included GPS 23 and 24 GPS 3F satellites. This order brings the total number of GPS 3F spacecraft under contract to 14.
The satellites are part of the latest generation of Global Positioning System spacecraft, providing positioning, navigation, and timing services used by the U.S. military, civilian infrastructure, and commercial users around the world.
The award comes less than a year after the Space Force ordered GPS 3F satellites 21 and 22 for $509.7 million. Both purchases were issued under a 2018 contract that allows the Space Force to buy 22 satellites.
With the latest order, the Space Force has exercised options for 14 spacecraft under the contract, bringing its total value to approximately $4.6 billion.
The purchase comes after the completion of the GPS 3 production run. In April, SpaceX launched the 10th and final GPS 3 satellite, marking the end of that phase of the constellation’s modernization. The next GPS launch is expected to be the first GPS 3F series.
Lockheed Martin manufactures GPS satellites at its facility in Denver, Colorado.
The GPS 3F introduces several upgrades to the GPS 3 design. One feature is known as regional military security, which allows satellites to concentrate the power of their encrypted military signals on specific geographic areas. This capability is intended to improve resistance to jamming and other types of electronic interference in contested environments.
Like GPS 3 satellites, GPS 3F vehicles will transmit the military’s encrypted M-code signal, which is designed to provide more secure positioning, navigation and timing services for military users than civilian GPS signals.
According to Lockheed Martin, the new satellites also include a fully digital navigation payload and will transmit civilian L1C and L5 signals with improved accuracy and reliability.
The GPS modernization effort comes as military planners place greater emphasis on protecting navigation and timing services from disruption. Jamming and spoofing satellite navigation signals has become more common in recent conflicts, prompting the Pentagon to upgrade to GPS and invest in complementary positioning, navigation, and timing technologies.
