Navigation security

GPS III to boost accuracy, security

The Air Force is on track to deliver in August 2016 the first of a series of advanced GPS satellites that promise to vastly improve the accuracy, reliability and security of the global positioning system constellation used by the military and civilian users, according to Air Force Col Steven Whitney, director of the Global Positioning Systems Directorate within Air Force Space Command’s Space and Missile Systems Center.

Most of the GPS satellites in orbit have surpassed their operational design life and need more advanced capabilities to meet the military’s changing requirements for position, navigation and timing (PNT) services as well as advanced anti-jamming capabilities. As a result, the Air Force and Lockheed Martin are developing the next-generation satellite system, known as GPS III, to sustain and modernize the constellation.