[Satellite TODAY 04-20-10] Lockheed Martin is ahead of development schedule for the U.S. Air Force‘s next-generation GPS system, GPS 3, having completed 26 of 65 critical design review (CDR) tests, the company announced April 29.
    Lockheed expects to have completed more than 50 percent of the planned CDRs by the end of April and conduct the overall space vehicle CDR in August — two months ahead of schedule. The work is part of Lockheed Martin’s $3 billion development and production contract with the Air Force.
    GPS 3 aims to improve position, navigation and timing services and provide advanced anti-jam capabilities yielding superior system security, accuracy and reliability to the Air Force. The first GPS 3A satellite is scheduled for launch in 2014.