US Air Force Awards The US Air Force an- nounced that a team
Lockheed Martin led by Lockheed Martin
has won the competition
Contract to Build
to build the next genera-
tion Global Positioning
GPS III
System (GPS) Space System Program, known as
GPS III. This program will
improve position, navigation and timing services
for the warfighter and civilian users worldwide, and provide advanced anti-jam capabilities yielding superior system security, accuracy and reliability. “Lockheed is
proud to serve as the Air Force’s partner on this critical
national program,” said Joanne Maguire, executive vice
president of Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. “Our
low-risk, back-to-basic solution is based on the team’s
outstanding record of success in developing and evolving
navigation satellites and we look forward to building a
next-generation system that will deliver enhanced performance for military and civilian users around the
globe.” Under the $1.4 B development and production
contract awarded by the secretary of the Air Force,
Michael Wynne, and the Global Positioning System
Wing, Space and Missile System Center, Los Angeles Air
Force Base, CA, the team of Lockheed Martin Space
Systems Co., ITT Corp. and General Dynamics will produce eight GPS IIIA satellites, with first launch projected for 2014. The development contract will result in approximately 500 new jobs for Lockheed Martin. Eight
GPS IIIB and 16 GPS IIIC satellites are planned for later increments, including additional capabilities based on
technical maturity. When fully deployed, the GPS III
constellation will feature a cross-linked command and
control architecture, allowing the entire GPS constellation to be updated simultaneously from a single ground
station. Additionally, a new spot beam capability for enhanced military (M-Code) coverage and increased resistance to hostile jamming will be incorporated. These enhancements will contribute to improve accuracy and assured availability for military and civilian users
worldwide. As the program’s Space System prime contractor, Lockheed Martin is leveraging its proven record
of providing progressively advanced spacecraft for the
current GPS constellation. The team designed and built
21 GPS IIR satellites for the Air Force and subsequently
modernized eight of those spacecraft, designated GPS
IIR-M, to enhance operations and navigation signal performance. For GPS III, Lockheed Martin’s program
management and spacecraft development effort will occur at its facility in Newtown, PA, with final assembly, integration and tests located in Denver, CO. The company’s Sunnyvale, CA, operations will provide various
spacecraft components and a launch support team will
be based at Cape Canaveral, FL. Lockheed Martin’s
flight-proven A2100 bus will serve as the GPS III spacecraft platform. ITT, Clifton, NJ, will provide the navigation payload, and General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, Gilbert, AZ, will provide the Network
Communication Element (NCE), which includes the
UHF Crosslink and Tracking Telemetry and Command
(TT&C) subsystems.
Harris Corp. Harris Corp., an interna- tional communications
Awarded Contract and information technology
company, has been award-
for US Navy
ed a potential five-year,
$85 M indefinite delivery/
Commercial
indefinite quantity (IDIQ)
Broadband Satellite
contract from the US Navy
for multiband satellite
communications terminals
that will provide advanced
communications for aircraft carriers and other large deck
ships. Under the IDIQ contract, the company received an
initial award valued at $15 M. Harris will supply 2.7-
meter satellite communications terminals with C- and Ku-band capabilities for the Navy’s Commercial Broadband
Satellite Program (CBSP) Force Level Variant. The higher bandwidth capacity of these terminals will enable the
Navy to augment military satellite communications by
supporting essential mission requirements and by providing high-speed Internet access for as many as 5000 military personnel onboard each aircraft carrier. The new terminals will replace existing Harris AN/WSC- 8 terminals
that have provided shipboard C-band communications for
the Navy for more than 10 years. “This contract reflects
Harris Corp.’s ongoing commitment to providing the US
military with the most advanced communications technology available, and puts us at the forefront of providing
cutting-edge, multiband SATCOM terminal solutions for
the US Navy,” said Wes Cowell, president of Harris Defense Programs. “As the leading wideband communications provider to the Navy, Harris is proud to have been
selected to provide this new generation of shipboard communications capability.”
Raytheon Awarded Raytheon Co. has been awarded a US Air
US Air Force Force contract to continue
evolving a system for shar-
Contract for DCGS
ing of near real-time, ac-
tionable intelligence infor-
Architecture
mation among warfighters.
Known as the Distributed
Common Ground System
(DCGS) Integration Back-
bone (DIB), the next gen-
eration DIB—DIB1.3—will address standard compliance,
baseline convergence, enterprise interoperability and
unique US Air Force, Army and Navy requirements. The
Web-based DIB is an open service-oriented architecture
through which military analysts and the intelligence communities can collaborate globally, regardless of their military service affiliation, thereby enabling joint interoperability. Raytheon first developed the DIB under the
