LOS ANGELES AIR FORCE BASE, El Segundo, Calif. — The U.S. Air Force successfully launched the Boeing-built eighth Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF satellite aboard an ULA Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., at 1:21 p.m. EDT.
“I’m delighted with the outcome of today’s launch. Thanks to the men and women of SMC, the 45th, 50th and 310th Space Wings; Boeing; ULA; the Aerospace Corporation; and the GPS IIF and Atlas V launch teams ceaseless efforts, commitment, dedication, and focus on mission success, we successfully launched the fourth GPS IIF space vehicle this year,” said Col. Bill Cooley, director of Space and Missile Systems Center’s Global Positioning Systems Directorate. “Today’s launch demonstrates our commitment to users around the globe that GPS is the gold standard for position navigation and timing and will continue to deliver capabilities for the foreseeable future,” he said.
The Boeing-built GPS IIF satellites provide improved signals that enhance the precise global positioning, navigation and timing services supporting both the warfighter and the growing civilian needs of our global economy. The GPS IIF satellites will provide improved accuracy through advanced atomic clocks, a longer design life than previous GPS satellites, and a new operational third civil signal (L5) that benefits commercial aviation and safety-of-life applications. It will also continue to deploy the modernized capabilities that began with the GPS IIR satellites, including a more robust military signal.
The GPS constellation is healthy, stable and robust with 31-operational satellites orbiting the Earth delivering improved and enhanced GPS capabilities to our warfighting forces and for the nation. Operated by U.S. Air Force Space Command, the GPS constellation provides precise positioning, navigation and timing services worldwide seven days a week, 24-hours a day.
Air Force Space Command’s Space and Missile Systems Center, located at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., is the U.S. Air Force’s center of acquisition excellence for acquiring and developing military space systems. Its portfolio includes the Global Positioning System, military satellite communications, defense meteorological satellites, space launch and range systems, satellite control networks, space-based infrared systems and space situational awareness capabilities.
