Lockheed Martin
Space Systems Company has launched a new website designed to assist in
collecting input from the defense, civilian and commercial user
communities to shape the next-generation Global Positioning System
(GPS) referred to as GPS III. The website, located at
http://www.gps-future.com, allows GPS users to complete an on-line
survey and describe the capabilities they would like to see in the
next-generation system.

The existing Global Positioning System allows any user equipped
with a GPS receiver to determine precise time and velocity, and
worldwide latitude, longitude and altitude to within a few meters.
Although originally designed as a guidance and navigational tool for
the military, GPS has proven beneficial in the commercial and civil
markets for transportation, surveying and search/rescue operations.

Working in partnership with the U.S. Government, Lockheed Martin’s
team is developing architectural solutions to meet the growing needs
of military, civilian and commercial users of a next-generation
space-based navigation and timing system through 2030. Referred to as
GPS III, the next-generation system is being developed to modernize
and improve the existing services provided to military and civilian
users.

“Our website allows the GPS user community to have input on the
features they would like to see in the future,” said Kevin Bilger,
vice president of Military Space Programs for Lockheed Martin Space
Systems. “Future applications and capabilities of the next-generation
GPS system are limited only by our imaginations.”

The website was created to complement Lockheed Martin’s work on
the U.S. Air Force’s GPS III System Architecture and Requirements
Definition (SARD) study by collecting and assessing additional user
needs and enabling technologies. Providing high-quality, highly
reliable navigation services to military and civilian users, including
the civil aviation community, is a focus of the study. Improvements
are expected to include features that make it more difficult to jam
the system, assuring availability of the GPS signals for
safety-critical applications.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems has been a leading architect of
end-to-end systems development for the past 50 years. Today, the
company is the nation’s provider of GPS IIR satellites and is also the
largest provider of GPS enabled weapons as well as a major participant
on the GPS ground Operational Control Segment.

For GPS III, the company has leveraged its extensive experience on
the GPS IIR program and has enlisted experts from industry, academia
and the international community to define architectures for this
critically needed system that provide high performance at low cost.
Additionally, by developing requirements and creating risk mitigation
and technology insertion plans, Lockheed Martin is poised to create an
affordable, reliable and robust GPS III architecture for the nation.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, headquartered in Denver, is
one of the major operating units of Lockheed Martin Corp. Space
Systems designs, develops, tests, manufactures and operates a variety
of advanced technology systems for military, civil and commercial
customers. Chief products include space launch and ground systems,
remote sensing and communications satellites for commercial and
government customers, advanced space observatories and interplanetary
spacecraft, fleet ballistic missiles and missile defense systems.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global
enterprise principally engaged in the research, design, development,
manufacture and integration of advanced-technology systems, products
and services. The Corporation’s core businesses are systems
integration, space, aeronautics, and technology services. Employing
more than 140,000 people worldwide, Lockheed Martin had 2000 sales
surpassing $25 billion.

To help shape the next-generation GPS system, please visit
http://www.gps-future.com/.

For images of Lockheed Martin-built GPS spacecraft and more
information about Space Systems operations in Sunnyvale, Calif.,
please visit our website at: http://lmms.external.lmco.com/.