Exelis [XLS] said yesterday its work developing the navigation payload for the Air Force’s next-generation Global Positioning System (GPS) III satellite system has resolved “most issues,” one week after the head of Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) said the program had run into manufacturing and process issues with the payload.
Exelis spokeswoman Jane Khodos told Defense Daily yesterday delays on the program occurred due to planned testing, during which time various technical issues were discovered. Khodos said the company delayed delivery of the navigation payload for the first GPS III satellite, or space vehicle 1, to assure adequate signal isolation, or no “crosstalk,” within the mission data unit (MDU). The issue was identified on flight-like MDU engineering model hardware, Khodos said, which was then utilized to develop required design modifications prior to flight production. This assured compliance with mission requirements, she said.
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| Lockheed Martin’s GPS III Satellite Photo: Lockheed Martin |
The flight MDU is in the final stages of space vehicle 1 payload panel pre-integration, tuning and test, Khodos said. Exelis will also deliver six transmitter assemblies, Khodos said, for this payload panel. While undergoing protoqualification testing, Khodos said two anomalies were identified in two of the six transmitter circuit card assemblies, which have since been resolved. Exelis will also incorporate two minor design modifications, Khodos said, to assure a successful protoqualification test program.
Khodos said Exelis has scheduled delivery of its navigation payload to GPS III prime contractor Lockheed Martin [LMT] for early 2014. Lockheed Martin said in June it anticipated delivery by the end of 2013 (Defense Daily, June 6). Lockheed Martin spokesman Chip Eschenfelder said yesterday the company anticipates GPS III space vehicle 1 being delivered to the Air Force in 2014 in preparation for a 2015 launch.
AFSPC chief Gen. William Shelton said last week the service was growing “increasingly concerned” over the status of the GPS III program, the Air Force’s next generation positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) satellite system. At the Air Force Association’s (AFA) annual conference outside Washington, Shelton said despite concerns, he believed the program was still on “decent footing” (Defense Daily, Sept. 18).
GPS III is an Air Force program that will replace aging GPS satellites in orbit, improving capability to meet the evolving demands of military, commercial and civilian users. Lockheed Martin is under contract for production of the first four GPS III satellites and has received advanced procurement funding for long-lead components for the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth GPS III satellites (Defense Daily, July 23).