ITT Corp.’s GPS 3 navigation payload has passed a U.S. Air Force critical design review for the Navigation Payload Element (NPE) in support of the GPS-3 program, the company announced July 26.
    The review was conducted June 24 at ITT’s facilities in Clifton, N.J., and demonstrated that the design meets all program requirements and showed complete compliance with the GPS 3 mission assurance standards. Based on the review of the hardware designs, the Air Force confirmed that the NPE is ready to proceed to the manufacturing phase of the program..
    ITT is part of a Lockheed Martin-led team that was selected in May 2008 by the Air Force to build the next-generation GPS 3 program. ITT integrates and tests the components in the NPE on to the GPS 3 space vehicle flight panel for delivery to Lockheed Martin, which is then assembled in to the space vehicle for testing. The NPE, which consists of several transmitter units and the mission data unit, both designed and built by ITT, generates and transmits all of the navigation signals for military and civil users and maintains the highly precise timing for navigation performance.