The US Defence Department's chief arms buyer approved on Friday the next phase of the Global Positioning System navigation tool, paving the way for a multibillion-dollar contract award this month. Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp are competing for a contract valued at around $1.8 billion to build the first eight satellites of the next-generation GPS III system.
An Air Force spokeswoman said the service still hoped to announce the contract award this month. GPS satellites, in one of six Earth orbits, circle the globe every 12 hours. beaming navigation and precise time signals used for everything from mapping to business transactions and modern warfare.
GPS III will feature a military signal called the M-code with greater signal power, to boost resistance to jamming, perceived as a growing threat. It will also incorporate a new civil signal making it capable of working with Europe's Galileo navigation system.
Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne is due to meet on May 13 with Gary Payton, the Air Force official in charge of space programs, to finalise the award, with an announcement expected later in the week, said two sources familiar with process.
Pentagon acquisition chief John Young signed an acquisition decision memorandum for the GPS III program after "a thorough independent program assessment," according to a Pentagon statement. Young directed the Air Force to consider ways to deliver the program within or below budget and to set up a system that rewards specific program accomplishments "more carefully and on a more objective basis."
Defence analyst Loren Thompson of the private Lexington Institurity of observers expect Lockheed to win because they performed well on their previous GPS II contract, while Boeing is running four years late on its," said Thompson, a consultant to Lockheed and other defence companies who has close ties to the Air Force.
The first of the new GPS III satellites is to be launched in 2014. The Air Force has said it plans to stick with a single prime contractor for eight more satellites in a second GPS III batch and 16 in a third. A total of 18 satellites are required to start operating the new system as projected by 2018, with 24 needed for full operation.