Eric Brown, senior director of military space mission strategy at Lockheed Martin, said the company is updating its satellite bus for the U.S. Air Force's GPS III follow-on satellite platform to facilitate hardware updates in orbit, SpaceNews reported Friday.
Brown told attendees at an Air Force Association-hosted panel discussion Thursday he expects the third GPS IIIF spacecraft design will incorporate LM 2100 model.
He noted that an on-orbit docking system could help the company equip an operational military communication satellite with a modern processor or sensor technology.
Lockheed is looking to work with Aerojet Rocketdyne in satellite servicing efforts, Brown said at the AFA event. He made the remarks more than two months after the Bethesda, Maryland-based company announced a $4.4 billion deal to acquire Aerojet Rocketdyne as part of missile and hypersonic technology expansion push.