The Air Force has declared the latest—and last of its model—Global Positioning Satellite, launched into orbit Aug. 17, to be operational, as of Aug. 27. The Lockheed Martin-built satellite, GPS IIR-21(M), joins 30 other GPS sats currently in the operational constellation. This good news bears out the earlier claim by Space and Missile Center officials that a problem with the previous satellite in the series (GPS IIR-20) did not extend to #21. (SMC release)
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.