WASHINGTON — Northrop Grumman Aerospace will supply antenna sets for six more GPS 3 next-generation positioning, navigation and timing satellites under a contract with Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Northrop Grumman said in an April 17 press release.
Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed.
Denver-based Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor on the multibillion-dollar U.S. Air Force GPS 3 program, which as currently structured would field a constellation of up to 32 satellites. The company has firm orders for four satellites and has been authorized to begin work on another four.
Northrop Grumman Aerospace of Redondo Beach, Calif., has already delivered deployable antenna sets — each consisting of eight individual antennas — for the first two satellites in the GPS 3 constellation, slated to begin launching in 2015. The latest order is for 48 of the self-deploying monopole antennas, which stow in compact box-shaped canisters measuring just a few centimeters on each side.
The antennas are being manufactured by Northrop Grumman Aerospace’s Astro Aerospace division, which specializes in unique deployable antennas. The division has delivered more than 1,000 antennas for previous generations of GPS spacecraft, Northrop Grumman said.
