The Pentagon plan to collect bids for a next generation of Global Positioning Satellites temporarily may be stalled, reports the Wall Street Journal. The GPS III program remains in budgetary limbo, since the Air Force and DOD have decided not to offer contracts for award this fiscal year. Part of the reason may be the new space acquisition policy, in which Air Force Undersecretary Ron Sega expects to curtail both technical and budgetary problems by slowing program development. Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel, the Space and Missile Systems Center commander and lead for GPS acquisition, told WSJ that pressure to keep up a faster timetable has lessened since the current GPS fleet is proving more resilient than anticipated.
The Space Development Agency launched its first two batches of operational satellites last fall in what was supposed to be the start of a 10-month campaign to populate its proliferated data transport and missile tracking constellation. Six months later, the agency and its vendors have yet to move those first…