Nichols Martin
The fourth Lockheed Martin-made satellite under the U.S. Space Force's GPS III constellation effort has gained operational acceptance earlier than usual, C4ISRnet reported Thursday.
The GPS III Space Vehicle 04 satellite launched last month and supports the implementation of the M-Code military GPS signal.
Capt. Collin Dart, flight commander of the 2 Space Operations Squadron, said the latest satellite gained operational acceptance about 30 days after the launch, setting a new record 10 days earlier than the usual processing period.
USSF used an expedited process to achieve the newly reached speed of attaining a satellite's operational acceptance.
"Moving forward with future GPS III launches, the timeline between launch and the satellite being set healthy will be at a minimum,†Dart said about future timeline standards.
Tonya Ladwig, Lockheed's acting vice president for navigation systems, said last month the company aims to rapidly deploy systems that align with USSF's positioning, navigation and timing efforts.
