Lockheed gets full Air Force funding for two new satellites

Lockheed Martin said on Tuesday it will complete production of the U.S. Air Force’s seventh and eighth next-generation global positioning satellites.

The company's continued work on GPS III comes under exercised contract options from the service worth more than $245 million.

“With eight GPS III satellites now fully under contract, the GPS III program is moving from development into recurring production,” said Mark Stewart, vice president of Lockheed Martin’s Navigation Systems mission area. “We continue to build on the lessons learned from development and this contract demonstrates the Air Force’s confidence in and continued need for the GPS III satellite.”

Lockheed said it had received initial funding for the two satellites last year under a long-lead material contract from the service for a second set of four satellites. Full production of satellite six was given in December.

GPS III satellites will replace older GPS satellites now in orbit. The new satellites deliver three times better accuracy; provide up to eight times improved anti-jamming capabilities; and include enhancements which extend spacecraft life.