The Air Force and its industry partners successfully launched a modernized Global Positioning System Block IIR satellite built by Lockheed Martin into space March 15 from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., the company announced. The satellite, designated GPS IIR-19M, is the sixth of eight modernized GPS IIR satellites that Lockheed Martin has built and subsequently upgraded to provide increased signal power for users, along with greater accuracy and resistance to jamming. The mission was the third consecutive successful launch of a GPS IIR-M satellite in less than five months, according to Lockheed Martin. The remaining two Block IIR-M satellites are also scheduled to go into orbit this year.
The defense intelligence community has tried three times in the past decade to build a “common intelligence picture”—a single data stream providing the information that commanders need to make decisions about the battlefield. The first two attempts failed. But officials say things are different today.